Call me a species-ist. But I think native wild animals should receive extra consideration from humans.
While I usually reserve a great deal of respect for Canadians, the whole annual harp seal hunt bothers me. That doesn’t mean I’m opposed to someone hunting seals to clothe themselves, to eat, or to observe a native cultural tradition. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a bit like my friend Black Cat hunting to live outdoors here in Wisconsin. It’s not for me, or most cats, for that matter but, it is a fact of life. And that might be similar to humans hunting deer here in Wisconsin – a good sized deer can supplement store-bought food in a meaningful way for many humans.
But a commercial hunt – a platform primarily for people to buy expensive coats made of seal fur when there are other things to keep you warm – I just think that is inappropriate. The problem isn’t just Canadian, though. Likely, if they could not find a market for their seal products, it wouldn’t be lucrative – so I guess they share the blame with the places that sell such things and, in particular, with the people who buy them.
Some people claim that the hunt is necessary to control the harp seal population. That doesn’t go too far for me either. And, I don’t think harp seals should be blamed for any decline in cod populations.
My response? I’m not eating any Canadian seafood. I wrote a letter to the Canadian Prime Minister based on some information I saw on the International Fund for Animal Welfare website. There’s no doubt that there is a lot of controversy around this topic. If it bugs you, you should look at both sides of the story.
But for me, it is a wild animal thing. Right now, the denizens of icy places have a lot to contend with. Thawing ice seems to have reduced seal production this year. Yet, the Canadian government authorized the hunt of 270,000 young seals just yesterday.
And why am I upset about seals and not other things? True, I eat chicken in my cat food, for instance. I don’t have really good answers for all these things. I just do the best I can.
Me, I am not a wild animal. I have no functional place in the wild ecosystem I call home. I’m happy to be domesticated, even though I have a few wild behaviors, chittering at birds, pouncing, stalking, and others. But I don’t belong out there. I belong in here…purring and blogging.
