All over the internet, I see posts about stopping the seal hunt on the east coast of Canada. Yes, most people will not like to see young white seal pups killed. Well that's good because the white coats haven't been hunted since 1978. What you are reading about the sealing industry in Canada is mostly bullshit!!
If you visit the web sites of the multitude of protest groups out there such as the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Paul Watson's Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, or for that matter even the American SPCA, the first thing you will notice is that these groups are blatantly misleading the public on the topic of the Canadian seal hunt.
The animal rights groups use the seal hunt as an annual fundraising event and their attacks fill up their coffers by using emotional pitches and half-truths. The fact is that these groups are actually making more money from the annual Atlantic seal hunt than the sealers themselves earn. Take for example the $77.5 million U.S. the International Fund For Animal Welfare raised last year and it's easy to see the benefits seal hunting actually bring to protest groups. Greenpeace pulls in 35 million dollars a year. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society pulls in 2 and a half million. PETA makes close to 40 million. HSUS earns a hefty 100 million a year. Fund raising, not protection of species, is often their prime objective. It might be very enlightening if groups who use the March seal hunt as their annual fundraiser were placed under microscopic investigation to see how much money they really make from it and exactly how that money is spent.
Animal rights groups were very quick to see the economical gold mine in "Saving Canadian Seals". In 2007, it is estimated that animal rights groups earned nearly 300 million dollars worldwide protesting the seal hunt. Would anyone out there be able to tell me on what did animal rights groups spend 300 million dollars?? How many seals were saved?? How much money have the animal rights groups made since they started protesting the seal hunt. The figures must be staggering.
The bloody images, the heated rhetoric, the impassioned defenses — they all combine in a familiar rite that pits governments and sealers against animal rights groups that decry the hunt, even as they use it as a primary fund raising tool. In 2008, there were 250 thousand seals harvested at 33 bucks each. This comes to 8 million, 250 thousand dollars. Compare that figure to the hundreds of millions of dollars raised world wide by animal rights groups in one year.
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) and The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) both independent reputable organizations has concluded that the seal hunt was done according to regulations and the tools used in the hunt is humane.
I just have to get into the seal protest business!!
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