Seal or Re-Seal: You Either Give a FF or You Don't!


This time it was Pierre Foglia’s May 9th La Presse editorial entitled, ‘Phoque et rephoque,’ that forced me to re-evaluate (yet again) my stance on the seal hunt… and then, three days later, it was another editorial signed by Mr. Foglia that helped to strengthen it further.

As I had mentioned in my April 10 posting, ‘Easter Seals and that Bloody Hunt,’ Foglia points out that here in Canada, we are being sold an entirely different image… and so there is an awful lot of hypocrisy that surrounds this subject. He also agrees with me on the idea of Canadian ‘unity;’ however, we differ in opinions on one key point: I see all animals as living creatures, not just the ones I don't eat…

He also, like everyone he criticises, is selling us only an image; his own comparison of the seal hunt to a ‘deer hunting’ equivalent paints a very biased picture indeed, filled with the habitual, overly subjective, anti-seal hunt stereotypes… How is this any different from the rest of the propaganda? Firstly, a great majority of hunters use Hakapiks, and not baseball bats. Secondly, our laws forbids—it’s a weak argument, I know—the killing of ‘whitecoats’ or, from Foglia’s p.o.v., Bambi.
Don’t worry, Mr. Foglia, like you, PETA also likes to re-use dated pictures without validating its modern day accuracy.

Of course, using the heavy hammer-like metal end of an Hakapik to crush a seal’s skull is not an image that should please (or arouse) anyone! However, all those who have studied the issue, including ‘slanted’ organisations like the World Wildlife Fund and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), have arrived at the same conclusion: this is a very humane method of killing the seals (yes, I know, that phrase has a disturbing oxymoronic quality to it).

I say: read the real reports and then please explain to me how the seal hunt brutality surpasses that of millions of chickens’ headless dance or lambs exsanguinations or hey! a bull’s skull after a hammer blow? We use fancier un-hammer-like ‘hammers’ here which may explain its acceptance…but then why aren’t Europeans protesting the rusty hammers used in Taiwan to kill cows???
Precisely because seal meat is not sold in our supermarkets… And that red blood on that white ice, couldn’t ask for a better canvas to paint that anti-seal hunt image that has had a tremendous success in Europe.

So speaking of ‘the brutality’ of the seal hunt, you may scoff, Mr. Foglia, at a comparison of the seal hunt ‘industry’ to those others that actually do deliver meat to our supermarkets, but do you realize that this attitude simply sheds a light on your own hypocrisy vis-à-vis this subject?

And was it a lack of research or some form of manipulation, Mr. Foglia, that acted upon you, thus forcing you to omit quite a fair bit of facts when you reduced the entire industry to skins and dried penises; did you know that only the organs aren’t used, and this, only since 1998. And was it pretension that prompted you to write that seal meat is inedible, taste wise? Many coastal communities actually feed on seal meat and the hunt does represent an important source of food for them. Should we kill more chickens instead and ship more boxes of Kraft Dinner? What about Lac Brome ducks? Aren’t you being a bit like Bush Sr. with his broccoli ‘initiative’ i.e. I don't like it therefore no one should eat it?

And it's a good thing that seal meat hasn't caught on; they'd be treated far worse but since it would happen behind closed doors on breeding farms armed with well-greased lobbyists... So isn't it this aspect, Mr. Foglia, that perhaps makes you accept pig farming and then tell us: hey! at least all of a pig gets used up...

So I maintain my position; it's clear that seals represent an ideal marketing tool, but when all is said and done, this is the only thing that distinguishes this industry from other industries that slaughter animals. The real problem is how we see animals. Already, too many species have become mere object-like commodities rather than living creatures.  Seals are just luckier than others; they get more media attention and hence, more support. If you're willing to protect seals, then why not spread your consideration?
Would you actually donate or march to the chant of ‘don’t kill the chickens’? Now ask yourself: why is that?

Keep on clicking!

PDL

© 2009, Pascal-Denis Lussier
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