The Newfoundland seal hunt has long ago ceased to be an activity judged on its merits. And it is also past the time when it can be argued on the grounds of logic. Why seals have a superior status to cows and pigs, for example, is a question the moral philosophers have long ago abandoned is witless despair.
Why turning a seal pelt into a coat is any more appalling than turning a cowhide into a leather jacket is a distinction that eludes the most subtle mind. Why shoes from cows are less despicable than seal skin gloves would defy the reasoning power of a Thomas Aquinas.
We slaughter chickens by the hecatomb the world around. Had a hot dog lately? The
wiener is not a vegetable. Sheep, contrary to the hymn, do not “safely” graze – rack of lamb is always popular – and let me not get started on fish.
But you’ve heard on these ‘points’ before. And the real point is, neither logic nor argument is at the bottom of the eternal return of the spring seal hunt controversy. In fact it is almost drained of any real substance whatsoever. In the days of the early seal hunt, a million seals could be harvested, but today when quotas have drastically shrunken, the actual take is miniscule. The herd incidentally is populous beyond measure. It exists in the millions, while the actual number of seals taken is down to a pathetic 60,000, according to some numbers. Continued....
