Captain Paul Watson on KPFA: Canadian Seal "Hunt"

The segment aired on April 14 on KPFA's investigative news show, FLASHPOINTS

i believe that the greenpeace corps. are hypocrites, they come here to canada and newofundland and criticize our government of lying and that the seal hunt here in inhumane. When in truth they are doing far worse in ther US. Our province has a market for the pelts, oils and flippers, whereas; in Alaska the seals are killed and there is little to no market for them there, also, they are killed and taken to a dumping area and burned. that my friend is a waste and inhumane.

i believe that the greenpeace corps. are hypocrites, they come here to canada and newofundland and criticize our government of lying and that the seal hunt here in inhumane. When in truth they are doing far worse in ther US. Our province has a market for the pelts, oils and flippers, whereas; in Alaska the seals are killed and there is little to no market for them there, also, they are killed and taken to a dumping area and burned. that my friend is a waste and inhumane.

The article newfie, had nothing to do with Greenpeace but a group called Sea Shepherd who are composed of volunteers from all over the world. These volunteers consider any violation of a baby seal, or any other baby animal and human for that matter, as something that must be opposed. The seal 'hunt' that the Canadian government conducts is well documented and obviously, to anyone with common sense, inhumane and an insult to life. You are corrrect in saying that the US also violates the natural world . This does not however, justify the Canadian slaughter of baby seals. All over the world we have seen pictures of some Canadians taking pride in going up to a defenceless animal and bashing its head in. There is no hunt in this, there is no proof of manhood. It is in fact an insult to manhood. Does it not concern you , newfie, that the world first sees you in this way and then sees you newfie, a Canadian citizen trying to justify it? What about the crash of the fish population of the North Atlantic due to human greed newfie, does that concern you? How will you explain this to your grandchildren newfie? It's time to wake up newfie and look at what's happening around you.

the issue of the Canadian Seal hunt is seeped with emotional arguments on both sides of the fence. However, the opponents like to play up the horror and brutality and to demonize and reject the people involved, as in Newfoundlanders, and the Canadian Goverment. They play on the notion that Newfies are brutal, bloodlusting, greedy and backwards. Many criticisms focus on how cowardly it is to walk up to a 'helpless baby seal and beat it to death' (as if it would make a difference to the opponents if it were more 'sporting')... and the the Canadian Government , via the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) facilitates it by corruption, ineptness, etc...

The real picture is a little more complicated than that. Sealers, the majority are from Newfoundland, kill seals for money, plain and simple. . It makes up as significant part of the annual income of those involved. thats why they do it. Not because they like to kill helpless animals...Cowardly behaviour has no more to do with this than it does for Farmer John who ties up the bull before hitting it with a sledge hammer,(perhaps it'd be more sporting if he chased it aroudn the yard with the hammer)... Its not a test of manhood, although since that is constantly brought up, consider what kind of person will steam through artic pack ice in late winter in a boat ranging from 24 to 50 feet in lenght. This is not factory ships but small boats in heavy ice. (which is why the Farley Mowat had to be rescued by the Coast Guard last march)...(and why Coast Guard Ice breakers are there..a number of vessels are lost each year)

That said, there are legitimate issues that should be discussed such as

1) 'is clubbing a humane method of killing a seal?' -there is ample evidence to show that properly done, whacking a seal pup with a regulation club or hakapik delivers instant death with no suffering.

2) 'given the size of the quota, and the number of sealers trying to get a share, and the short season, will sealers be too rushed to observe proper technique in killing seals?' I expect that since not many people (sealers included) actually enjoy causing undue suffering, that most sealers do take sufficient time but how many don't? and how many is too many?

3) Is there adequate monitoring and enforcement to ensure that all sealers observe the rules in place to ensure humane kills?
4) is the catch rate sustainable? DFO says it is, Sea Shepperd and others say it isn't...
5) is it 'wrong' to kill seals because they have more inherent value to nature than domesticated (doomed) food animals?
6) it is fair use of an animal, to kill it for fur (luxury) industry?

etc....

These are some of the tangible issues that can be discussed in meaningful way, yet most of what I read online, is based on emotional ,knee jerk responses to the uglyness of the activity. I expect you would get the same response from looking at images of cattle or pigs being slaughtered.

If you are vegan, I guess its all the same to you. If you eat meat , wear/use leather products, ...I think you owe it to yourself to consider the issues rather than how gross it looks...

The way the 'debate' is run now, is like the 'flat earth' people or holocaust deniers working backwards from a foregone conclusion. They 'beleive' that it is simply 'wrong', 'Immoral' to kill seal pups for fur, and make their arguements working back from that, to prove that position. This does not allow for any meaningful discussion. "I'm right, your wrong, end of story"

meaningful discussion please!

thanks for your comments. very good points, and i have heard them made before.
however, the facts from the field speak for themselves. there's another segment i did with a woman from the humane society who was out there on the ice floes watching it happen. she has teams of veteriarians come and verify what she sees with her own eyes every year, massive numbers of pups skinned alive. a high percentage of the corpses have intact skulls.

i agree that a properly delivered spikey club to the head will kill just about anything. but the justification they use for this annual "hunt" (killing field) is that the seals are crashing the cod stocks. it's a lie. corporate liquidation fishing is doing the cod in, and the seals are just scapegoats.
i totally concur that if ppl could see a slaughterhouse for ten minutes they'd be instant vegans. it's hard to see anything die. i feel the same when i see loggers dig in to a 1000 year old redwood tree.
the thing i want to emphasize by this work i do is this: if we could do these things, like hunting or fishing or logging, with respect, and with commitment to sustainability, reason, and our own humanity, i would have no problem with it. i personally choose not to participate but then again i live in a house made of old growth redwood (most of us in the bay area do)...so who am i kidding.
however, the seal hunt and old growth logging and factory farming are all done with a heartlessness i abhor, and sheer contempt for our fellow life forms and the principles of sustainable existence. i reject these so-called justifications for any of it, including the often touted "we do this to feed our children."
when a cow or pig finally meets it's end, it is so overwhelmed with the terror of where it is and what is happeneing to its brethren all around it, that the adrendalin levels in the bloodstream carry that terror right into the steaks and bacon and chops. that is what we are feeding our children.
thanks again for your comments
ab

<when a cow or pig finally meets it's end, it is so overwhelmed with the terror of where it is and what is happeneing to its brethren all around it, that the adrendalin levels in the bloodstream carry that terror right into the steaks and bacon and chops. that is what we are feeding our children.>

Are our kids eating 'terror' when they eat meat??

I do not doubt that animals in slaughterhouses are likely to experience stress and terror, and would agree that such should be minimized, or even eliminated. However, if that pre-death experience results in elevated levels of adrenaline in the meat products, that would be a matter of 'taste' not health and safety (for humans)...

I live in an area where people eat alot of game (moose, caribou...) and its common knowledge that animals given a clean death 'taste better' than those that were shot poorly and ran for some time before dying. The latter animals have a stronger, somewhat bitter taste.

Is there scientific evidence that adrenaline in meat is 'bad for you'? I doubt it...

This is a moral issue rather than a health issue.