Points to Make When Writing a Letter to the Editor about Canada's Seal Hunt

The hunt is cruel. The seal pups are beaten or shot, both of which cause great pain. Observers report that Canada's animal welfare regulations are not being followed or enforced. Sealers have been observed skinning many seals while the pups are still alive and conscious.

The number of seals killed is unsustainable and growing. The Canadian government has provided no scientific evidence that the seal populations of Labrador and Newfoundland can withstand the new quota, which allows hunters to kill nearly a million seals over three years.

The government does not control the hunt adequately. The Canadian Department of Fisheries, which is charged with overseeing the hunt, doesn't punish hunters who kill the seals inhumanely or who exceed the quota. It ignores the abuse of animals and rewards overkilling with higher quotas.

The government should not subsidize this barbaric hunt. The subsidies that the government has poured into the seal hunt since 1995, reportedly more than $20 million, is an investment in cruelty.

The seal hunt is misrepresented to the public. Claims that the hunt is part of the indigenous cultures of Labrador and Newfoundland are a cloak for this commercial industry. With 11,185 commercial sealing licenses issued in 2001, this cannot be considered a local cultural event. It's commerce, just like any other industry.

The Canadian government also misrepresents the threat seals pose to the North Atlantic cod industry. Scientific evidence doesn't back up the government's claim that seals are eating too many cod. Even the government's own scientists have pointed to over-fishing as the actual culprit in the crash of the cod industry. There's also reason to believe that killing off seals might even worsen the cod stock's condition.

Citizens of Canada and other countries should tell the Canadian government to outlaw the seal hunt. Instead of subsidizing the cruelty and waste of life, the government must stop it.

Non-Canadian citizens should signal their disapproval of the seal hunt by telling the Canadian Tourism Commission that they won't be visiting Canada until the government bans the hunt.