Am I the only one who thinks this is inhumane, and that if they are going to do this, that there HAS to be a more humane way of doing it...stun gun, gas, netting, capture and sort later... SOMETHING!  This picture is almost enough to make me join PETA.

I don't see how it is inhumane actually.  Clubbing them is a very quick way to kill them. If they didn't kill them at all, they would die from starvation...which is VERY inhumane. Starvation is a painful way to die. The harp seal population is huge and growing fast.

I won't even mention PeTA because of their tactics that results in minks be let loose and getting run over by cars.

Some of the pups were being skinned while STILL ALIVE.

On what planet could that be considered humane?

Sorry, I'm with Senor Self here...I have a strong constitution and reading the first four or five paragraphs beside the picture gave me a hot flash.

I understand that the population of harp seals is exploding and needs to be controlled...but there has to be a better way of doing it.

And don't give me any crap about "traditional hunting methods."

Yoda

....because tonight i'm in the frame of mind where i after looking at the picture and reading the first 2 paragraphs i had to stop. So there may be more to the article that explains how being clubbing an animal to death or skinning it alive is so righteous, however, i doubt it.

I remember when this was a big issue back about 20 years ago. Apparently, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Somehow, i just can't see taking any comfort in someone telling me "Don't worry, i'm gonna beat you to death with this big fuckin' stick, but it won't hurt a bit." As far as being skinned alive goes i've had a very very small taste of that on a few occasions when i had to lay down my bike. No thanks, i'll pass.

If you wanna wear fur, i honestly don't care. I just think there has to be better ways to kill the animal then those.

It does amaze me when people say that an animal population must be controlled. What gives us the right? Mother nature has for eons done a pretty good job. It has been only since man has started destroying the environment that things have gone so bad. What kind of world will we leave our grandchildren? How long before we decide to control our senior citizen population?

Flame away, ye great white hunters...LOL...

Did you retire, or have you changed your name?  I can't see a way to contact you.  E-mail me if you would:  [email protected]

P.S.  No comma after inhumane.

The March issue of National Geographic has an article about this.
The hunt is not to control population, it is for profit. The Harp seal population is healthy and the Canadien goverment allows an annual quota of kills. The skinning alive bit is definatly inhumane an most likely illegal. But I don't see what is so inhumane about being dispatched with a club. Hypocrits complain how awful this is then go out and eat commercially butchered meat. What makes a seal more deserving of our sympathy than a cow, pig or chicken. I don't beleive the way they are killed is any more humane. And I don't think the animal cares that it is going to be eaten and not just it's skin taken, it's just as dead. Personally I don't like the hunt, but such hypocrisy rubs me the wrong way.

or rounded up (seals don't exactly do 20 knots, or they wouldn't be clubable) and then killed while unconscious than clubbed to death or shot, and then occasionally skinned, while conscious, anyday.

Call me a pussy, but I am no hypocrite.

P.S.  I eat meat, but I worked in food service for 12 years, and stock slaughter is more humane than this, in spite of what PETA would have us believe.

I beleive a swift overwhelming blow to the head is a quick and humane way to kill. Granted not all blows are equal and I'm sure some are not very effective, but I would venture to say the same is true of the killing methods used in slaughter houses. I don't understand the rounded up comment. Most meat is raised in feedlots not free range.
Being a pacifist and supporter of animal rights I find myself in a strange position to be defending a seal hunt. I'm just trying to look at the point objectively.

know you are not.  if happens because they are too cheap to buy a .22.

No matter what anyone says on this board, the seal hunting methods of today are barbaric and far from humane. Only some of the seals are beaten with clubs. Some are shot, and die a cruel and agonizing death. According to a 2001 independent veterinary study, 42% of seals are SKINNED ALIVE. Skinned alive! Can you imagine being skinned alive?

Even sicker is the games these cowards play with the body parts of seals. From Mickey J. Dwyer's book which detailed seal hunting comes this, "Once, after a short time into the Hunt, I had saved up ten heads that we used for two hours to play "head-ball." It was like hockey but instead of  using sticks, we used out hakipiks to try to shoot the head between two twitching carcasses we used as goal posts."

Notice the use of the word hunt. It is NOT a hunt. Most of the seals are newly born. They are merely lying on the ice when the "hunters" beat them or shoot them. How to hunters determine if the seals are dead? They preform a "blink test." to confirm an animal is dead before skinning. This test consists of hitting seals in their eyes to see if they blink. If they do, they are presumed to be alive; if not, they are presumed to be dead.

It wouldn't take much to kill this industry. Like so many other industries, it's solely about money. Once people stop purchasing items made of seal fur, the industry will die. It's really not that difficult.

Much of what is done to animals today is NOT humane. Rodeos=inhumane. Circuses=inhumane. Furs=inhumane. Dog lab at University of Colorado=inhumane. Merino wool=inhumane. Poultry, beef, pork industries=inhumane. For more information on Animal Rights, I suggest reading Tom Regan's Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights. Not only is he a wonderfully bright man, he's a very, very kind man. His work opened my eyes about much related to animal rights. Additionally, I recommend the program shown by HBO entitled To Love or Kill: Man vs. Animals. Both can be obtained at your local public library. If they are not available, they can be obtained through interlibrary loan.

I agree with your sentiment. However one of your statements is in error. "Most of the seals are newly born." Up until the 1970's that was true. Those are the cute little white seals we all have seen pictures of. After a Harp seal is weaned it molts and looses it's white fur. In the 60's there was a lot of publicity and public outrage about this "hunt" of still suckling babes. Canada outlawed the hunting of the white babes in the 70's. Since then the "hunt" has been for the young seals after they have been weaned and have molted. For an unbiased and objective article on this subject please see the March 2004 issue of National Geographic.
I agree that much of what people do to animals is inhumane, I just don't bleive that the treatment these seals receive is any more inhumane than the way animals are treated in the meat industries and the other examples you sited. The hypocrisies as I see them are in those who vilify these evil seal hunters,while financially  supporting other inhumane practices by doing things like eating that hamburger. Or God forbid eating some veal or lamb, which is also the butchering of babies. Not to mention the horrble treatment calves destined to be veal are subjected to.

-- Modified on 4/16/2004 8:04:16 PM

A quick lethal blow to the head is much quicker than a shot with a 22. If I were to be executed and had my coice of these two methods, personally I would choose the club, but I'd like the the arm that wielded it was strong enough to crush my skull with one blow. Bullets, espcially small caliber ones rarely kill instantly.