Seal of Disapproval

Regular readers of this page are more than aware that I find common cause with any number of activist groups. However, if there is one activist community that I find repeatedly insipid to the edge of intellectual fraud, it's the animal rights movement. The latest campaign from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, now playing on billboards and bus shelters across the Lower Mainland, only reinforces that point for me. Some disclosure here: I eat animals, I wear animals, I was born and raised in Northern Alberta, and I have known a number of people, including First Nations people, who hunt and fish for sustenance and trade. Some of them hail from the province of Newfoundland and Labrador where the seal hunt/harvest takes place. I attended the Calgary Stampede on a number of occasions when I lived in Alberta. I am filing a contribution to the BCSPCA on my tax return this year. While animals exhibit some degree of intelligence, they are by definition, not human. When my cat becomes the first Siamese-Canadian elected to the House of Commons, perhaps I'll change my mind, but not before.

What annoys me about the IFAW campaign is the adolescent moral relativism attached to it: "250, 000 baby seals are about to be slaughtered, and your bus is two minutes late. Get angry for the right reasons." Anyone who's a genuine progressive should be frustrated that the Pamela Andersons and Brigette Bardots of the world can buy a spotlight for a pet cause (pun intended)which is exists in relative isolation, and shove the issues that real matter out of that spotlight. The ads in Vancouver could have easily read "250,000 baby seals are being slaughtered, and you're bitching about the lack of social housing". It's just like how anti-war demonstrations have been bumped off the evening news by a handful of deluded exhibitionists who would 'rather go naked than wear fur'. The fate of a seals harvested on the Atlantic ice floes is simply nowhere near as important as why there may not be Atlantic ice floes in the near future.

The seals are not an endangered species, and in fact have tripled in population since the 1970's. The '250,000' baby seals (some IFAW material says 275,000 or 300,000) refers to the quota established by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, not the actual number of seals killed. Veterinarians have consistently reported that the killing is done in a humane manner. As for those cute little whitecoat baby seals that animal rights crusaders embrace as their mascots of moral purity? It's been illegal to hunt them since 1987. The only noticeable ecological effect of the seal hunt/harvest would be a slight increase in Cod populations, who would inevitably be eaten by other creatures, such as humans.

As for this page, I think I am, in fact, angry for the right reasons, which have nothing to do with Atlantic Canadians and First Nations people earning their livelihood in a sustainable and traditional industry. And I'm not angry with the IFAW, just annoyed..