NL-Outsidethebox [confederation]

This is a comment Patriot left on his Blog from-beatles-to-seals-or-thats-no-lady. Patrot is a great debater and even better columnist. His Blogs are normally published on The Canada Free Press.
I felt this comment in particular deserved it's own post and not just the back pages of the comments section. Hope you don't mind Patriot. You put into words my own sentiments much more eloquently than I ever could. As you yourself expressed there are things You would like to see changed with the seal hunt but an all out ban isn't one of them.
As for the meat isn't used arguement by the ARA's that is a direct result of the protestors. Markets were being developed for all of the seal but each time one was developed the ARA's would lobby aggressively to shut it down. IMHO the real culprets for the lack of markets for seal meat are the ARA's and they don't have a leg to stand on with this arguement.

Personally I would like to see the federal government fund converting all of the seal meat into food aid for starving countries. Seal meat is the only food which can sustain life solely all by itself with out additives and supplements. This is a huge resource that is going unutilized and could go along way towards stopping world hunger and starvation. At this very moment parts of Africa are on the verge of another famine.

Patriot said...

To Anon who asked me if I feel the hunt is humane and if I had ever actually witnessed it. Unlike all of the name calling and emotion running through some of the comments here you have asked two very good questions. Thank-you for the opportunity to set the record straight.

Let me start by saying that I have been accused of making money from the hunt, of working for the fur lobby and a bunch of other things by activist groups and their followers. None of this is true and one of the reasons that lead me to believe that they are quite capable of bending or ignoring the facts to suit thier own agenda.

I do not make any money from the hunt and neither does anyone in my family. I have nothing to gain financially or in any other way by defending the seal hunt.

To answer your question. No, I have never witnessed the hunt directly but I have seen the same film clips and heard the same infomation from both sides that many of the people on both sides of the arguement have seen. I have also seen video footage and documentaries that show the pro-hunt side. (I'm willing to bet many who oppose the hunt either haven't seen those or simply refused to watch them with an open mind).

Unlike those opposed to the hunt who listen only to activist groups that stand to make millions in donations I prefer to listen to the people who regulate the hunt and more importantly those who take part in it. You may see this as stupid but I would prefer to believe these people for a number of reasons.

The primary one being that they are the same people I see every day and who go to church on Sunday, donate to various charities, help their neighbours and so on in communities around the area. These are people who I recognize as good, honest and hard working individuals, not barbarians, and who I would prefer to believe over those who seek publicity and donations.

To your next question, whether or not I beleive the hunt is humane. The answer to that is as I've said before, not black and white but varied shades of grey.

I believe it is not as humane as some animal huntiing/harvesting practices but more humane than others. I believe that it is much more humane now than it was a few decades ago and every year it is becoming more so. Is it perfect? Of course not, but that is not a reason to ban it, simply a reason to improve the practices where possible.

I know I will be accused of "going off on a tangent" as everyone who says what I am about to say is accused but I don't believe it is a tangent.

The fact is that hunters kill millions of deer, bear, moose, elk, etc. for food and sport. Every year billions of chickens, pigs, cows and sheep are slaughtered for food and other products. To me the use of these animals is no differnent than the use of seals with one exception.

Unlike deer or mooose hunting, when seals are killed it is not hidden away in the woods where only one or two hunters can see it.

When seals are killed it is not hidden away in a slaughter house where only the employees working there can see the blood. Yes, red blood on white snow is not pretty but neither is gutting a deer or lopping the head off of a live chicken or killing a cow by ramming it in the skull but by and large these are the practices and they do not raise the ire of people who continue to eat the meat of those animals and to wear leather.

I for one would not want to go to the ice and kill a seal. Neither would I want to kill a deer or moose. I would also not want to work in a slaughter house where throats are cut and animals are quartered. I never have and never will but that is my choice and it is because those things are not somthing I would be comfortable doing. Does that give me the right to force the same sensibilities on someone else and to try to force them to bend to my will? I don't believe it does.

The major problem I have with protest groups and their followers should be pretty clear from my previous statements but let me clarify just a little.

I defend the hunt not because I have a vested interest or because it matters directly to me whether it goes ahead or not.

I defend the hunt because I do not believe that simply because someone finds the hunt emotionally taxing it gives them the right to coerce and blackmail an industry into submission.

Generally the individuals and organizations who do this are far removed from the actual activity and have no direct connection to the process. They have nothing to lose when an industry or practice is stopped but, in the case of the organizations protesting, everything to gain by opposing it.

When the practices or industries I've already mentioned are stopped from doing what they do (whether it be hunting animals for food and sport or industries such as sealing or beef production) peoples lives are directly impacted even if this is of little concern to those who try to force the closure.

The incomes of employees and their families are impacted whether they are the harvesters or those working in the secondary processing industryies or periferal business such as furriers, food distributors, medical suppliers, tanners, etc., or in the case of sport hunting the tourist, hotel and restaurant industries). Peoples lives are affected, millions of dollars are removed from an economy and products leave the market place. These are only the obvious impacts but they are never the less important ones.

I always like to ask protestors of the hunt if they wear leather belts, shoes or a coats. If they eat meat. If they wear wool or drink milk. If they take suppliments such as Omega 3. If they eat pate or for that matter even if they have ever used white glue.

I also wonder how many of those people have ever benefited from medications or medical procedures that were developed through animal testing. All of these things and many, many more are based on animal usage. It's not necessarily pretty but the world is not a pretty place and that's the straight story.

Once again thanks for asking two very good and hopefully honestly asked questions. Perhaps another good question would be do I think the way all animal industries are conducted can be improved, and the answer to that is yes.

Like any industry there is always room for improvement. I support the hunt because I am a realist.

I know my packaged meat didn't just appear at the local supermarket magically and I know my belt used to be the hide of a cow. My personal sense of reality lets me know that there are things many of us don't want to witness personally but that doesn't make them any less valid.

My belief is that as long as other animals are used for products around the world by the billions everyday there are many areas where improvements can be made and there is no reason to single out or stop the seal hunt while that is happening.

In light of what I just said, the only reason to stop the seal hunt would be if it were causing an extinction of the species. This is not the case. Yes I have a problem with the black market hunting of white rhinos for example but the seal herd is growing every year and only about 2 or 3 percent are being utilized.

I would also say my believe is that activists would be much better served to work toward improving practices rather than screaming for an end to the hunt.

While I concede there is room for improvement in any industry, there are other industries that I would try to improve long before targeting the hunt. The practice wrapping geese in wire and force feeding them for pate is one example. Another example are the practices used in the veal industry and the list goes on.

To close I just want to say that I have nothing to gain from an active seal hunt but then again activist groups have nothing to lose by trying to shut them down.

My fear is that destroying a sustainable industry simply because it upsets someones sensibilities may become more and more prevelent if it is allowed to gain a foot hold. In a scenario like that we all stand to lose a lot since most of the world's population would prefer not to be vegans. Then again I doubt that will happen since the groups usually go after easy targets rather than attacking major industries that have the funds and connections to fight back in any real way.

Thanks again for the questions and I'm sure my answer will be picked apart, taken out of context and perhaps specific parts published in other places where it will be made to look like I agree with the activist groups. I don't really care but I am glad to give my personal pespective and hopefully you were glad to get it.

Myles

PS. Excuse any typos as I just rattled this off without worrying too much about grammar or spelling. I wanted to ensure that I wrote exactly what I felt rather than self censoring myself and perhaps altering the content in some way.