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Why Do They Club Seals?

Earlier this month, somebody said I was from “a nation of seal clubbers”. That’s a fair comment, ’cause they sure club up a storm on the East Coast. It got me thinking, though. Why aren’t we “a nation of seal killers”? Why do they club seals?

I’m lazy, but the folks at Slate aren’t. One of their Explainer podcasts this week addressed this very question.

It’s safe and easy, and it preserves the seal’s valuable pelt. Federal laws in Canada give a sealer three ways to hunt his prey. He can shoot a seal with a rifle or shotgun–provided it’s above a minimum calibre or gauge; he can break its head with a blunt club (like a baseball bat) that must be at least 2 feet long; or he can smash in its brains with something called a hakapik–a 4- or 5-foot wooden pole with a bent, metal spike affixed to the end.

They go on to explain that it’s quite tricky to shoot a seal from a boat that’s bobbing up and down (the seal may be bobbing as well). Plus, should you not kill it with the first shot, the seal’s liable to jump into the water, and there goes your $70 (that’s it?) pelt. So, clubbing’s the preferable method.

We were discussing this subject at a party last night, and my friend said he’d heard that it costs more to police the seal hunt than the hunt generates in revenue. I searched around, trying to verify that fact, and only came up with this article. It’s from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, but cites an independent study (PDF). Unfortunately, it uses old data discussing subsidies which were phased out in 2000.

One point which is relevant is that the hunt only accounts for the equivalent of 100 to 150 full time jobs. We’re not talking about logging in BC or the cod fisheries here–this is a highly niche activity.

So, in summary, here are the facts I’ve gathered:

  • On average, clubbing a seal is probably more humane than shooting it.
  • While it’s clearly an animal rights issue, there’s no environmental case for opposing the hunt. This year the seal quota is less than 2% of the entire population, which has exploded in recent years.
  • As an industry, it’s small potatoes.

Regardless of how you feel about whacking seals, it seems obvious to me that the international perception of Canada’s seal hunt isn’t worth the few million dollars it may generate in GDP. Plenty of other resource workers across the country have had to retrain–can’t we do the same with a few hundred seal hunters?

96 comments

  2. Or better yet, leave them all alone. It’s not like there are no available substitutes for seal pelts; the demand for them is quite simply unjustifiable.

  4. Your post prompted me to Google for a guy with whom I went to high school. He was in all my honours classes and really not the type to get into trouble. He served time in prison for his plans to stop the seal hunt. I found the following article, which he seems to have written. I was an environmentalist in high school, but I don’t remember him being one. As I recall, he was shaping up to become an accountant.

  5. Here in Albuquerque there’s a local group that traps and relocates prairie dogs that would otherwise be killed by development. They contacted the air force base here a while ago because the base had a town of about 100 prairie dogs that were “in the way”. The group asked for permission to get on base so they could move the dogs, but they were not allowed. A few weeks later the air force hired a contractor, who poisoned the dogs for $300/dog.

    This is how America spends its taxes.

  6. Time for the quarterly disjointed rant…

    “The Department of Fisheries and Oceans claims Canada’s seal hunt population is at its healthiest level in years. A week ago, Ottawa raised this year’s seal hunt limit to 325,000, up 5,000 from last year.

    The seal population’s size is estimated to be at least five million — and roughly three times higher than seal populations in the 1970s.” Sympatico 2006

    I wish people (especially some famous ones whose opinions seem to be more worthy than yours and mine) would take a look at the fishing policies of some European countries that like to vacuum every fish out of the ocean on the east coast.

    I guess if you’re a cute mammal, your emotional worth is valued higher than say a tuna or a cow. There are much worse things to go after than those poor buggers trying to scrape a living out of a pretty harsh environment. I’m sure that seal hunting is one of many jobs that those guys hold down during the year. I don’t think they can all be retrained to get oil field jobs (ie Fort Mac or Hibernia).

    1. I agree with you Myles.It’s been our culture always to live off the land and sea.We are the most honest, hardest working individuals you find.you can shut down the seal hunt ,but then they will just die off eventually of starvation because they managed to eat all of the cod stocks and other marine animals. So whether we hunt or not those seals will be all gone and what will they have to wine about next?

      The value of animals over human life is what is criminal.why do we get less jail time for murdering other human beings and less time for poaching?something not right there.

      Peta are quick to boast about thier efforts to stop the seal hunt while they are responsible for killing thousands of dogs and cats at humane shelters every year.Is thier cute furry faces not worth fighting for?are their value worth less than seals? they try to cover up this nasty little secret and when it’s uncovered they say”well those cats and dogs were put down humanely.”So gasing animals or injecting them with poison is humane?lowere the shelter rates for adopting animals and lower the vet costs so people can spay an neuter thier pets to control the population then maybe the shelters wouldn’t be overloaded ! Do they prepose we poison all the seals for the pelts or give them lethal injections? I’d like for them to show us a humane way to kill the seals and see how close they’d get to do it.
      I don’t see how one is ethical and the other is not.how the animal is killed may not be for the squimish but neither is how cattle farmers slaughter their cows for sale of their meat.neither is how you kill a chicken.

      Atleast the pelt,meat,bones and oil from the seal is used and sold for a purpose.It’s a natural resource industry just like the logging industry that makes paper for all those peta flyers!
      Why do these animal rights groups feel it necessary to use foul language,physical voilence and false accusations to prove their point?maybe because they have no basis for their protest other than too much time on thier hands.
      maybe if they weren’t so lazy and got thier hands dirty working they wouldn’t have time to meddle in our culture.
      Speaking of culture,
      We eat seal meat just as we eat beef,chicken,turkey,deer,rabbit,fish,squid,ducks,geese,moose,caribou,bear,lobster,crab my goodness i could go on but you get the point.

      If there wasn’t a demand for the seal meat or seal oil capsles then they wouldn’t be able to sell it .so somebody dear i say other than newfoundlanders eating the seal meat.In austraila they eat kangaroo ,other countries eat grosse bugs but hey if that’s their culture who are we to but in.so butt out of our culture!Atleast we’re not polluting the environment and injecting our food with chemicals responsible for changing the human chromosones which are linked to autism and other neurological and gastrointestinal disorders.What we eat is not tainted and healthier to eat than processed foods.I sure hope those animal rights groups don’t use eggs to make thier childrens cakes cause those hens are killed for food when they can no longer produce eggs.

      It’s really funny how most of the argument is coming from other countries and a handfull of americans who know little about our culture.
      Anyone can cut and post stats to twist the truth to prove thier point to suit themselves .
      We will never convince the Peta crowd to drop their ignorant ways but atleast we can sleep at night knowing we can support our families and work hard doing it.Unlike Pamela Anderson who takes her clothes off for strangers in one of her strip clubs or John Travolta and Tom Cruise who are apart of the cult known as scientology ya atleast Newfoundlanders have a better work ethic then the shameful disreguard for thier own reputation or how they influence and brainwash their children.People are starving in haiti and travolta an his cult leaders are there to offer touch therapy holding up the tarmac preventing military planes from having space to land to deliver food an supplies to the haitians.that’s sickening.But i guess you can’t buy publicity like that hey jonny boy?
      Hmmm what shall i cook for supper tonight a juicy Moose roast or a slimy slop of tofu no contest there, give me Meat!
      Better eaten than wasted!

  8. Why hunt these seals anyway? It’s cruel.

    I’m sure most people wouldn’t like it if I harvested babies for sale to pedophiles, no matter how lucrative it may be.

  9. Wow, I cant believe you’re comparing harvesting babies to clubbing seals. For one, an overpopulation of seals is detrimental not only to the fish stocks, (particularly cod, which is a suffering species on the East Coast.) but also to themselves. You can draw comparaisons to the overpopulation of wild geese in Peru. The seal hunt isnt just about getting 70$ a pelt. Its about controlling the population of marine life and our environment as well as canadian heritage. I think all these bandwagoners from the south need to be more openminded, and maybe focus their efforts on something a little more pressing, like I dont know, Darfur for example?

  10. i think that seal clubbing is horrible for the poor things. whats the point. they havent done anything to anyone. if your so worried about the marine population then move some to another place.

  11. I am not a fan of killing innocent animals by any means (mainly for pelts) but there are realities of life that must be faced. Moving to another place will not help to control a population. Once a population rises above carrying capacity it will not be able to support its self. The seals may in fact eat them selves out of house and home one could say. I am not up to date on all the population statistics, but I took a class on marine mammals in university a few years ago and we covered a lot of controversial topics which really opened up my eyes. There are 2 sides to every story and people seem to just get caught up with the cute and cuddly animals and forget about population dynamics.

  12. “Move some to another place”?

    So, we’re going to move 300 000 seals to another ecosystem. Ignore the cost for a moment … you’re either going to disrupt another ecosystem if the seals take, or the seals are going to die anyways in the new environment. NOW think about the cost, and you’ll realize that it’s pointless AND expensive.

    PETA likes to talk about seal hunting like it’s all about the pelts. I live in Newfoundland, and it’s not all about the pelts. I read a statistic that pointed out that zero dollars comes from the export of seal meat … which conveniently ignores the fact that Canadians are perfectly capable of chewing solid foods.

    How many Church and other organizations have I seen around St. John’s organizing Seal Flipper Dinners? Admittedly, I haven’t yet eaten seal, but I haven’t yet eaten a lot of things … mostly because the opportunity hasn’t come up. If an opportunity came up, you bet my bib would be on. I may just use one of PETA’s articles for that purpose.

    So we get the meat, and we get the oil, which is useful as well. We have 300 000 seal pelts laying around, and there’s a market for them. If PETA wasn’t on our case for selling them, another group would be on our case for wasting them.

    It would be interesting to see the Seal Hunt shut down, or the market for seal products disappear. Many would probably stop hunting seals, but at least here in Newfoundland (can’t speak for the St. Lawrence) many would keep on hunting. We’d just have a lot more sealskin rugs kicking around.

  13. people kill deer and all of these other animals and it is not made a huge issue. probably because it is the way they kill them people shoot most animals and dont make them suffer and if they skin them they make sure that they are dead first. i have been doing alot of research on seal clubbing for a school report and they way that those sick bastards kill them is just sick. like they club them a couple of times skin them when they are ALIVE and leave them there unskinned to eventually die a super painful death. i dont know how people could be so heartless and greedy to do that. who ever kills seals makes me sick and honestly i hope yu die and long harsh painful death and i hope it is soon because yu dont deserve to live!

    1. shooting the seals actually don’t kill them instantly if the caliber is too low. Clubbing kills them faster thus less suffering.

  14. THE WAY THAT THEY KILL THEM IS THE WORST THING I DONT THINK IT WOULD BE THAT HUGE OF A ISSUE IF THEY KILLED THEM NORMALLY AND DIDN’T SKIN THEM ALIVE…..AND THEY GET ALOT OF MONEY FOR THEIR FURS.

    1. The hunters do not skin them alive, that’s a lie probably made by PETA. They use a hakapik to club the seals head and the cranial damage ensures it’s mostly dead in 1 strike.

  16. how can you harm an innocent baby seal so what they are taking the fish
    1-they need to eat
    2-why do it
    my motto is “don’t eat fish and save a seal” because i don’t like fish to begin with so i probably have saved a seal.

    1. People are making retarded excuses not to hunt seals such as “It has done nothing”, “It’s cruel” or “It’s gross”.

      What about farm animals that American’s eat all the time in McDonalds. I am sure there are some vegetarians that are against the killing of all animals but they’re just a minuscule fraction of America. The farm animals are also innocent and they’re deaths are also as bloody.

  18. It is so sick wat they r doing! it makes me sick just thinking about it! (COUGH&SPEW) It is sssoooooooo grooosssssss! $70 is hardly anything. WHY WHY DO THEY DO IT!

    1. They do it to cut down their large number (over 5 million) and earn a living for the poor fishermen.

  19. i think anyone who has the heart to do such a thing should die and burn in hell and they can die the same way these poor seals die. i’d be the first to do it too. i don’t care if it’s a sport, if ur helping the damn marine life, how much money u make or how much u think u are able to justify such a thing. you are all scum bags and please don’t try and respond to my comment about why it’s right. i don’t care. no matter what anyone says, it’s not right. anyone who thinks it’s right can die too.

    1. Well if you would be the first to do it, wouldn’t that also make YOU have the heart to do such a thing? (therefore you should be clubbed too)

      1. Seriously, Brian, you’ve gone through every post here and responded in some sort of moronic way that proves your both ignorant and immoral. There’s no reason to post more than once if your argument is valid. Please stop posting for the good of humanity, thank you.

  20. Holy crap.
    When it comes to management of cute furry mammals, the ignorance, willful closed-mindedness, irrationality and utter stupidity of some knows no bounds.
    Seals are a natural resource like fish or timber. They are useful and they grow back.

    1. you no wat you have a sick mind if you think that it is okay to hunt poor baby seals. someone should come up to you and hit you in the head with a club so that you can die painfully. 🙂

  22. Ok, I understand the fact that people need to hunt in order to eat amongst other things. But, what I don’t get is why these hunters have to bludgeon these defenseless baby seals to death. Now, it seems to me that it would make more sense to hunt the older seals and allow the baby ones to grow and reproduce. If people continue to hunt these seals, their numbers will dwindle and eventually they will become extinct. I am in no way endorsing seal hunting and I am very much for it coming to a stop. Canadians and others to the north are no different from the rest of us who live all over. They can go to the store and buy food, they don’t need to act like cavemen and go out everyday to hunt for their food. Yes the amount of jobs available is a problem for all of us, but I didn’t think being a barbaric hunter qualified as a job.

    As for your comment Chad, seals are -not- a natural resource that just simply grows back. By the sounds of it, there are enough people out there hunting these seals and their population may be under control now, but just a short time in the future, people will start to kill more and more seals as the need for food grows with families growing the way they are now and the species will die out. They won’t have time to reproduce, especially since it is the babies who are being hunted.

    1. Hunting baby seals are illegal. PETA puts up propaganda posters of baby seals because it’s cute but the baby seals aren’t the ones getting killed. Some species of seal grows up to 400 kg and are dangerous if approached too closely.

  23. Basically myself and 3 others have been patrolling various areas of the seal region for the last 3 years..

    we are a covert operation set up by ourselves and we hunt down small groups of humans who club the seals.

    we club the humans and leave them for the seals.

    the seals thrive in our areas due to this.

    1. you go for it because talking about it makes me sick and i have joined a petition against it too. 🙂
      i hope that people will start to understand that you don’t need to hunt seals when you can hunt ducks, turkeys and fish.etc

  24. “As for your comment Chad, seals are -not- a natural resource that just simply grows back.”
    Yes they are, read the article.
    Less than 2% of the total seal population is harvested, the overall population is increasing, not decreasing. None of the hunted seals are in any way shape or form endangered or threatened.
    Seals are a natural resource in exactly the same way as any other animal species.

    You asked why they’re clubbed? Because it’s a quick, clean, efficient and painless method of killing the seal. If there’s a better way to hunt seal I’ve not heard of it.

    Just because it’s cute and furry is no reason to take it off the menu or give it special treatment.
    Concern would be better directed towards species that are actually threatened in some way or harvested inhumanely.

  25. Um, excuse me but I’m a 13 year old using this article for school and it’s just wrong. I’ve read a lot of articles about seal clubbing and it makes me nauseated. Thank you.

  27. Actually only about 200 canadians hunt seals… and clubbing is the most effective way, would you rather hit a seal in the leg with a gun and have it swim away and morbidly die in the water? Gosh go read the fucking top article before you post. You know how baby seals they kill? 2 fucking percent HOLY SHIT! And Gosh they already outlawed kill the babys, stfu they only kill adults. the fucking 12 year old girls need to stfu. And in no way are these seals comparable to humans. We have much larger issues to solve, how about the human race’s problems? fuck that seals. Geeze, just let those 200 guys do what they do, it will all come back to them anyway.

  28. “I guess if you’re a cute mammal, your emotional worth is valued higher than say a tuna or a cow. There are much worse things to go after than those poor buggers trying to scrape a living out of a pretty harsh environment. I’m sure that seal hunting is one of many jobs that those guys hold down during the year. I don’t think they can all be retrained to get oil field jobs (ie Fort Mac or Hibernia)”.
    All I have to say is, thank you, Myles

    “I will club one of the clubbers’ babies to death and skin them alive if I ever have the chance to” wow, it’s a sad day indeed when an animal life is put above a human one..

    At least all of the seal is used up and nothing goes to waste, I think the poachers in Africa hunting Elephant and Rhino are way more cruel and selfish, but, Elephants and Rhino’s aren’t fuzzy and cute so, no one cares…

  29. Seal clubbing is plain wrong. For starters, who are we to appoint ourselves judge jury and executioner to control the seal population.

    Second of all, SCREW the fishing industry – the seals and other mammales have more right to those fish than the human race do.

    1. they are all sick. they should be skinned themselves and then clubbed 2x and left them bleeding, cut their dicks and feed them to the sharks

  30. what a stupid argument about how the cod is going extinct… you really think that’s because overpopulated seals are eating them and has nothing to do with commercial fishing? if any animal is overpopulating the earth it’s probably people…

  31. What is the big deal? You see a baby seal and *whack* just like in the Sopranos. One good shot usually does the trick, if not a few more hits will do the job. Just don’t get to excited, don’t wanna ruin the fur. We are not hunting these animals into extinction. It’s a controlled hunt for extra income.

  32. “Now, it seems to me that it would make more sense to hunt the older seals and allow the baby ones to grow and reproduce.”

    They don’t hunt baby seals. That ended a long time ago.

    “Canadians and others to the north are no different from the rest of us who live all over. They can go to the store and buy food, they don’t need to act like cavemen and go out everyday to hunt for their food.”

    How do you know this? Have you ever visited an outport community? This isn’t southern Ontario. There’s no chain supermarket or Wal-Mart in any of these places. You might as well tell the Kung or Hadza people to buy a car to get to work.

  33. The argument about guns vs clubs makes NO sense. The argument against guns is that from a moving boat it is hard to shoot a seal. That would be a fair argument if you were also trying to club the seal from a moving boat. Do not compare shooting from a boat to clubbing a seal at your feet. The argument to defend not shooting a seal, instead of clubbing it, should be made based on standing right in front of the seal.

    In my book either is wrong but if you can walk up and bash something with a club then you should be capable of killing it with one shot from a gun.

  34. what. the. fuck.
    i am just amazed that people wouldn’t have a problem with this in any way.
    WAKE UP, how the hell could you be okay with that shit happening?
    i think you are a disgusting person and a waste of air if you support this… obviously…
    and as for the seal murderers, i only hope they soon succumb to a fate half as terrible as the one that they inflicted on many innocent living breathing beings.

    that’s all.

    1. What about innocent living breathing beings such as cows,pigs, chicken and etc.

      If you can’t even refute this then go be a hobo coz you’re a retard and a waste of air.

  35. and i agree with whoever posted that i hope someone clubs all of you who don’t have a problem with it and harvests you for your pelt, motherfuckers.

  37. it’s funny no one thinks of the chickens they eat, or the children being sold for sex and the women being rape to death and the other children starving to death in this world….instead of making all these threats about the seal hunt which you have no experience in or intelligence about. Its time celeb’s put their energy into their failed marriages and their kids who end up as druggies. The seals need to be maintained like any other animal or overpopulation will happen. Besides, sealers don’t kill baby seals anymore..come into the present..not back in the 70s and 80s. READ SOMETHING TRUTHFUL NOT THE STUPID PETA BULLSHIT THAT ONLY USES UP OUR TREES TO PRINT.

  39. I hope you sick minded mofos go to hell and get clubbed by the devil, if i could i’d kill all of ya’lls children slowly nd painfully…

      1. Why the hell are you even making comments except pointing out your own cruelness by telling people who just care for animals to look at themselves and calling everyone nazis. dude, your stupid

  40. Where do I get my tags? Sounds like a lot of fun, does anyone know of guided hunts? Also I’d like to hang the critters head on my office wall with it’s fangs exposed, I’ll need a good fishadermy. I can’t wait to invite my wifes teacher friends over to sea it hanging in my office.

  41. All those arguing against seal clubbing, you realise you haven’t addressed or taken on-board any of the points put forward by those who are for seal clubbing. I myself am kind of undetermined over exactly how I feel about this subject, but I’ve gotta say I’m kinda leaning towards not being against it, mainly because I don’t wanna be put in the same category as all these ignorant people who can’t take note of a fair point and just threaten others with ‘death by clubbing’. Some of you are threatening to murder people’s children! I know that (or hope that) you don’t full well mean that because you need to get some help otherwise!
    I care about animals, I’m vegetarian, but I’m also fairly reasonable. Why do so many people value animals over humans? And also care so little about all those animals that they probably have killed themselves through their diet and lifestlye, now I don’t care if you do unless you’re being massively hypocritical! Sort your values out! There is a lot worse things out there that you can be fighting against.

    Peace out.

    1. Okay, okay, I know people kill seals for food and other stuff. I’m just against the clubbing. Shoot the seal instead of clubbing it. Don’t make them suffer.

  42. “Why aren’t people concerned with children being sold as sex slaves?” What? Because that’s not what the article is about. Context. Caring about animals and people isn’t mutually exclusive, you can do both!

    There’s definitely a huge amount of hypocrisy here, much worse treatment happens in abattoirs supplying all your bloody steaks. But I’m sure everybody against this are all strict vegans, right?

    The best part is: “You’re all cruel monsters! You should be killed along with your family!!”. You sure showed them how to be warm and compassionate, lovely.

  43. Being an American, maybe I have no Right to post here. But I’ll throw in my two cents (canadians still use sense right?)

    I study mathemtaics; specifically chaotic systems found in nature such as biological populations. Recently, looking at the Rocky Mountain Elk in Colorado. Around 70% of the RM Elk are found in Colorado; and 70% of hose are found near or inside Rocky Mountain National Park. Hunting of Elk is illegal within the park, and because of this the population has grown to unatae levels where even regular winter produce wider spread starvation than is typically seen in the harshest of winters. Furthermore, the Elk have extended outside of their natural habitat, trambling marsh land and having a hugely detrimental impact on the surrounding areas and animals within. Even song bird populations have been devastated. This is because of the lack of predators that they once faced including both wolf AND man. This lack of predation does not just allow those that would become prey to survive, the others have no fear and thus focus much more time on mating than survival, which leads to an even greater population growth. Also, the overpopulation makes diseases like cronic wasting spread much faster, which again leads to massive die offs.

    Applying this anaolgy to the seals, the most humane route is to continue the hunts. Dieing from a club might not sound pleasant, but compared to a slow death from starvation or disease it is the obious choice.

    I would ask anyone who has a problem with the actual clubbing to look up video of a polar bear evicerating these animals. If we stop clubbing the seals; surely we should kill off the cruel polar bears that tear the seals to shreds (wasting their pelts). Nature is not some commune where all the animals cooperate to make sure everyone gets by. It’s survival by any means neccessary. The fact that humans are part of this cycle is rejected by many, but they are ignoring a simple fact of life.

  44. You cruel people! How could you beat a seal and say clubbing is easier than shooting it! Next time you club one look into its eyes!

    1. get your facts straight and read an article on seal clubbing. The diameter of the bullet is too small to kill the seal instantly.

  45. well if your trying to control a animal population why dont control the human population its the same thing so what if we have lives they do to. and what for some paper with numbers on it? i find it awfull

  46. Since my ‘friends’ can’t comment without hysterics, I guess I will have to speak calmly for them.
    I am a student working toward becoming a journalist. I also write an opinion column about environmental and animal issues called New Leaf.
    I recently became a vegetarian and have been doing that for over 6 months now. I don’t eat any meat (including seafood.) I attempted to go vegan but my past lifestyle made that transition impossible. I hope to be able to go vegan soon.
    At the risk of sounding ridiculous, let me say that I am against all killing. Although this is a personal feeling, I will not go rallying in the streets against every death (that would be exhausting.) But it’s true. Humans. Wild animals. Factory farmed animals. Laboratory animals. Domesticated animals. ALL OF THEM.
    So, obviously my view on clubbing seals is clear. I’m against it.
    But, I can acknowledge the other points without threatening their offspring.
    Population control: yes, but why are we in charge of population control? It’s because of our lifestyle and habits that this is even an issue.
    Cod/fish population: This is ridiculous. It’s an attempt to justify something that is, frankly, unjustifiable. If we have a declining fish population, it’s because of our commercial fishing habits. You can’t vacuum the sea and then expect there to still be aquatic life. And then when it’s missing, blame it on the predators (excluding ourselves.)
    There are bigger issues out there that I put my efforts on and it is unfortunate that the ‘cute/cuddly’ animals get all the public attention rather than the ‘gross’ factory farmed animals.
    Pigs that live in gestation crates and are constantly impregnated to produce more piglets. They live in cages so small they can’t even move.
    The same fate for dairy cows. Constantly impregnated too so they can produce milk and young. Separated from their young instantly. If you know anything about cows, you know they typically stay with their young for a lifetime. Male calves are typically put into veal crates and female calves are turned into dairy cows.
    Calves selected for veal live an agonizing and short life in a crate that is too small to live in. This crate keeps the animal weak and their meat tender. They are also fed a diet of no iron. They are usually sent to slaughter after 14 weeks of this torture.
    “The American Veal Association, has announced that they plan to phase out the use of crates by 2017, which is often the main focus of controversy in veal farming.”
    Dairy cows may have it worse because their lives are longer. Denied all of their natural behaviors, cows spend 10 out of 12 months a year hooked up to mechanical pumps for their milk. The other 2 months they are giving birth.
    Once a dairy cow is spent, it is sent to slaughter.
    According to the Humane Society US, “In one year in the United States, nine million cows are forced to produce an unnatural amount of milk for the dairy industry.”
    Appearance should not be the factor in how much a person cares about an issue. I really hope this is not the case.
    Check out my column if you want to learn more. Thank you for reading.

  50. Why not step up to a seal and shoot it instead of club it, you ask?
    Probably because the loud noise would scare the rest of them away.

  51. Excuse me, but your absolutely wrong about ‘clubbing being better than using a gun.’ Everything you say can be used against you. Seals aren’t freakin’ cheetahs. They can’t dash away. You, sir, are completely wrong and evil.

  52. I am about as pro-hunting as anyone, and I myself am a accomplished marksman, fisherman, etc. I also believe in allowing a culture to maintain respectable traditions, including but not limited to Japan’s current commercial whaling. However, having said all that, I am against the clubbing of seals. I see no respect in beating an animal, and especially not for pelt preservation this day-and-age. I am not as appalled by the seal clubbing, as I am shark finning, but still, if you’re going to kill an animal, you do so in as quick and painless a manner as possible, and you make certain to not waste any of God’s given resource either. As for the anti-gun excuses, you forget about bangsticks, which are just as effective as guns; but given their close proximity requirement, such a device negates the chances of glancing blows or maimings.

  54. i am pro gun, i shoot competitively, you might have seen me on tv. seal clubbing is wrong. if we kill them all, who will fight secretly for our government in Iran and Afghanistan!?? 😀

  55. Lol, Wow this articles like almost 5 years old years old and its still popular.
    I was playing a game called Overlord 2 and they have you kill baby seals for Lifeforce, anyway, it shows you a Baby seal eating a fish and one of your evil minions says “Poor Little Fishy! Kill the Fluffy ones for the cute Fishy’s!” lol

    Anyway, I live in southern California and Ive seen seals, they’re loud, Smell awful, and pollute the harbors they live in when the population is high, luckily most of em die off from it and also Great white sharks are quite fond of em. Actually, Seeing a great white Shark leap out of the water to eat a swimming Seal is pretty awesome to watch.
    I’d totally love to go seal clubbing, just for the fun of it, also Ive always wondered what Seal meat would taste like.
    Deer Meat isnt that bad by the way. Deer jerky is kinda bland though.
    Theres nothing like Eating something you’ve killed your self.
    Also, I bet they club seals cause their isnt enough Killer wales to eat the seals, and im pretty sure Great white sharks don’t go that far north due to it being too cold for them.
    And the whole seals eating cod is kinda bullshit imo, The fishery’s just don’t want the seals eating up their Cod supply. Yeah seal fur isnt a big commodity, but the Cod is, and if the seals eat all the cod. I cant get my fish sticks :(, Or even worse, I have to pay more for my fish N chips :O
    People that are against something are usually stupid uneducated fools about the world, kinda like how Hippys were, they talked about changing the world but all they did was get high and sit around the house eating everything in sight and getting thrown in jail.

    ON a side note How many of you would be equally outraged if you saw an article(with graphic pictures of course, cause we all know the masses cant rage if their isn’t a horribly graphic picture next to some letters and numbers) about how farmers raise cows, sheep, & pigs in filthy barn areas( no idea whats its actually called lol) then as the animal has its throat slit and is hung upside down on large metal hooks, till it bleeds to death, at lest a Club to the skull breaks its brains in, and any movement(I call the death twitch) you see afterward is just a jumbled signal coming from a non working brain. as most educated people know, muscle movement happens when electronic signals sent from the brain reach the muscles. Cows however are just killed like seals, Clubbed in the head with a sledge hammer, but now i hear they give cows an injection of Air into their brain? to kill them, not sure if i read that articale right, but wow im sure that would hurt an ass ton more then getting your skull smashed in and causing your brain to cease all function.

    Also did you know Korean are dog-eaters, the Italian are butterfly-shooters, the Spanish are goat-headyankers even the French, who, as we all know, eat our children’s ponies.
    Also I Loled at all the Peta Videos about seal clubbing.

  57. ^ dude…seals are not fucking cute they just cause their fuzzy? WOW horses are fuzzy(kinda)and us(in 2012)are passing a law to kill horses for meat…dont fucking call me a canadian cause im an american activist…anti american government activist.fuck america i may go t canida but canadian dude saying your food isent poisened is wrong all food almost every where is poisen and to you peta retards FUCK YOU you fucking EXTREAM FAIL eco terrorists cant even spread propaganda right XD fuck i mean it does make since to shoot the seals(with a bigger gun)but that would most likely ruin the pelt…and fuck who ever the wale wars guys are…i hope they piss of the wrong japaneese ship and get blown to bits!!! i know some one is going to reply with a stupid fucking comment and im way ahead of you,if you agree ok,if you dissagree fine,but if you stupidly and ignorantly agree/disagree i say fuck you you retarded assclown.and to the people who say these men should be clubed i say i should find you ,and shot you in your fucking face cause i think i would be doing humanity a favor and the police would pat me on the back for geting rid of a failed retarded phycopath…so thank you fuck you ignorant retards and have a nice day :]

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