14 DAY TRIAL // Ellen DeGeneres' Oscar selfie got re-tweeted millions of times, and this helped the celebrity raise $3 million (€2.17 million) for charity. Ellen DeGeneres chose to donate part of this money to the Humane Society of the United States, and, by the looks of it, this got her into trouble with an Inuit community in Canada.
For those unaware, neither the Humane Society of the United States nor Ellen DeDegeneres approves of seal hunts. On the contrary, the official website for the Ellen DeGeneres Show describes such hunts as, “one of the most atrocious and inhumane acts against animals allowed by any government.”
The Inuit community, whose members now have a bone to pick with Ellen, does not see things quite like this. On the contrary, this community maintains that there is nothing wrong with hunting seals, simply because quite a lot of people depend on this practice to be able to survive.
More precisely, seal meat helps feed families who live in regions where food security is an issue, and the skins taken from these animals not only keep folks warm, but can also be sold and therefore constitute a much needed source of income. Daily Mail informs that, in response to Ellen DeGeneres' Oscar selfie, members of the Inuit indigenous population are now taking pictures of themselves wearing seal skins, and posting them on Twitter accompanied by the hashtag #sealfie.
This initiative is intended to raise awareness of the fact that, at least in the case of members of the Inuit indigenous population, seal hunts are not only a part of their culture, but also sustainable and ethical. Hence, there is no need for the Humane Society of the United States and Ellen to campaign against them.
The same source tells us that, in a recent blog post, filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril from Iqaluit, Nunavut, makes a case of how, although she is a fan of Ellen DeGeneres, she does not agree with the celebrity on this topic. Besides, she thinks that Ellen is yet to understand what seal hunts are about.
“Thanks for your wonderful career, it is an inspiration to many women, the LGBT community, and anyone who's had to fight for survival and fair treatment. We as Inuit are among them, and I hope you will take your responsibility to be informed on this issue seriously,” Alethea Arnaquq-Baril writes in a message to Ellen DeGeneres.
“The days of a free-for-all unregulated seal hunt endangering the population (which Inuit never took part in anyway) are long gone. Fighting against commercial seal hunting is no longer relevant in today's society, but it brings animal rights groups a lot of money, while ensuring the poorest populations in North America are even poorer,” she adds.
For the time being, Ellen has made no comments on this “sealfies” initiative. The moment she does, be sure you will learn about it here.