The Canandain Seal Hunt
 

((This is just a copy of a petition i had made, but it has all the info in it about the seal hunt))

Dear Canadian Prime Minister:

We the following believe that The Canadian Seal Hunt is an unbelievably cruel hunt. Although the Canadian government claims of the seals killed in this hunt only a few of them are young, numbers seem to prove otherwise. About 96.6% of the harp and hooded seals killed in this event are between the ages of 12 days and 12 weeks. Not only is this a very young age for the seals pups to be killed at, the Canadian government also allows "sealers," as the hunters like to call themselves, to beat to death the young seal pup with either a large club, or an ice pick like object called a hakapik after the fur coat on the seal even just begins to molt. Not only is this beating itself barbaric, but also the fact that the seal pups are skinned while they are both alive and conscious leads this hunt even farther down the road to unallowable. In fact scientists have proven that about 40% of the seals killed in the Canadian Seal hunt did not die of their head wounds, because they we're not sufficient enough. Not to mention that the Canadian Seal Hunt also does not follow the Canadian Animal Welfare Regulations.
Not only is how the seals are killed unbelievable, what else that is unbelievable is the great number of seals killed in this hunt. For example, in the 2002 to 2003 seal hunt an estimated number of about 286,238 seals we're killed. Again, in the 2001 to 2002 seal hunt over 30,000 more seals than the limit we're killed. This number of seals is completely unsustainable, and unsighted of punishing the sealers for going over the amount of seals that we're allowed to be killed the Canadian government simply raised the quota. The new quota for the 2003 to 2006 Canadian seal hunt is extremely large, and allows sealers to kill 975,000 harp and hooded seals in a 3 year period, this means that the sealers will be able to kill about 75,000 more seals than they could have in the past five years. The amount of seals that are allowed to be killed in the 2003 to 2006 seal hunt is unsustainable, and has no scientific proof that the seals will even survive this new quota. Making this hunt the largest slaughter of marine life in the world.
The Canadian government also doesn't control their hunt adequately. In fact the Canadian Department of Fisheries has been charged with overseeing the hunt, the Canadian Department of Fisheries also does not punish any of the sealers who go over the quota. It instead ignores the abuse that is being brought to the harp and hooded seals and ups the quota even more.
The Canadian Seal Hunt is also misrepresented to the people. The Canadian government claims that the Canadian Seal Hunt is just a part of the culture of both Labrador and Newfoundland, but with 11,185 licenses given out for the Canadian Seal Hunt this event can in no possible way be just a cultural event. In fact the Canadian Seal Hunt is more commerce, just like any other industry.
Not only is the hunt misrepresented, but the cod threats in Canada are also misrepresented. They claim that the seals are eating too many of the cod, and by killing them off it would increase the population of the cod. This just isn't true, in fact even Canadian scientist have proven that it wasn't the seal's fault that the cod decreased, but instead they point the blame towards Canada's overfishing. The scientists also say that because the seals eat the predators of the cod that by taking away the seals they could actually worsen the decrease in the cod.
After having stated the information listed above, we the following signed believe that this brutal, and barbaric hunt should for now and forever more be abolished. All for the best intrust of the seals, the cod, and the reputation of Canada.