14 DAY TRIAL // If one happens to be a seal, this is a particularly bad time of the year to be hanging around in eastern Canada. This is because the country's latest seal hunt officially opened only this past Tuesday, at precisely 6 a.m. local time.
It may very well be that the people taking part in this event refer to it as a hunt, yet most animal rights activists maintain that what is currently going on in eastern Canada is nothing if not worthy of being called a slaughter.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, those who attend the Canadian seal hunt are not even looking to kill mature animals.
Quite the contrary: what they are interested in is killing harper seal pups which have not yet reached the age of three months.
The Inquisitr explains that, unlike adult seals, these pups have coast whose color is still a pleasant white.
Apparently, it is these white coats “owned” by the seal pups that the hunters are very much interested in getting their hands on.
Several organizations such as Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, and the Humane Society of the United States have argued time and time again that clubbing and shooting baby seals in order to collect their coats is no more and no less than animal cruelty.
Still, numerous Canadians maintain that not only is this practice useful to families who rely heavily on the meat and fur obtained in this manner, but that it is also a decades-long tradition which cannot be simply ditched on ethical grounds having to do with animal rights and animal welfare.
Wishing to raise awareness with respect to this hunt and encourage people to help the Humane Society of the United States put an end to this practice, satirist Bill Maher tweeted as follows: “The #sealhunt has begun. Please #give $10 [€7.66] to @humanesociety.”
Those wishing to donate can do so here.