I agree that in torture - animals vs. humans - we are no more important than any animal and in turn they are no more important that we are.

The seal hunt has many personal triggers for me, as I have seen the place that I come from, Newfoundland, completely transformed and broken down with the failure of the fisheries. It is the fishermen themselves that have felt the brunt of this, though they had been telling the governments for years of excess international fishing which continues unabated, and the effects of the closure of the seal hunt upon fish stocks. Outside observers and experts had their own views and statistics that did not take into account the observations of a people who had spent their lives working with the ebb and flow of nature.

It has been a tradition for these people that have lost their livelihoods—much has been taken from these people of the sea which has seen an exodus from the province, which had been built on the fishery. They did not use just the pelts for warmth or fashion, the entire animal was and still is utilized – omega 3 oils anyone? The traditional flipper pie still exists; seal meat is still consumed, though one would have to take the current state of the ocean and mercury levels of larger sea animals into account for the safety of this practice.

I question this particular target – the seal hunt - why not all international fisheries for over fishing and all the industries that have created a far greater concern with environmental pollutants. If the goal is to protect, then where are our priorities?

The media and various interest groups continue to proliferate the idea that baby white coats are still targeted; this is sensationalist hype and emotional manipulation. This has not been the case for years. If you’d like to see a different take on the seal I would direct you to the movie “Happy Feet” to see the ferocity of this animal, which eats its weight in fish on a daily basis.

The latest ‘protest group’ effort on the East Coast, not even near the most of the hunt, had Paul McCartney and Heather Mills in the midst of the milieu. There was a posed picture of them with a white coat. Well, that baby seal being touched my human hands, lost its mother (mother seals with pups are not hunted). Once touched, the mother will abandon its offspring, in this case it was not the hunt that destroyed the baby white coat but the opportunity for an emotionally charged photo.

Now, the east coast of Canada, Newfoundland in particular has off shore oil reserves. Yes, a different resource but non renewable and what effect will this have should there be an environmental disaster created by oil spill or even worse a terrorist attack? This area is along the gulf current that runs to Europe with great winds and storms travelling this route. Will the animals of the sea then be protected? What greater potential for loss is there here? What wars are being fought based on oil production and the loss of human lives for this cause? These are just questions I ask myself, where does the balance exist? Is it six in one and half a dozen in the other?

I have no answers, only my heart which belongs to my home. Now it is on a slick and oily slope filling the pockets of international corporations and the feeding frenzy of over consumption. The livelihood lost from the ocean’s natural abundance, where there was a provision of responsible management by these people for centuries without ill effect.

© T.S. (Tim) White