GibsonGirl said:
Just goes to show how much this has stirred people up in Newfoundland. 
We can be a passionate bunch, which I'm sure you're observing closely, with interest
We're also a sensitive bunch, and often get defensive when our pride is wounded. I'm probably not the best representative of the "rant and roar" kind of person that would make a shirt like you mentioned, but I can understand it.
dazzlingamy said:
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its not because seals are cute or whateve, its because they shouldnt be killed for no reason. And i totally disagree with the 'hunt to put food on the table' reason. Get another job, or sadly, go on welfare, do some short courses and get another job. I dont think using money as an excuse for killing animals is justifiable. I hear Starbucks is always hiring.
Starbucks? Well, there's just one of those here...thank god. It's so interesting that you mention that place in the same breath as a traditional hunt--as if corporate America can somehow remedy the situation.
Here's the deal: the hunt deeply offends only because we can see it with our eyes, on television. Like McCartney said, he's been watching for forty years. If we had cameras in slaughterhouses, we'd all be just as sickened by those images, if not more so.
The hunt takes place for a fraction of the year. For the most part, it supplements fishers' earnings, and is not the sole source of their income. But it is a very important component of the economy, and it does keep people here.
I can actually envision and end to the hunt in the future, as the regular eaters of seal meat are going down in numbers. I don't eat it, but my older relatives do enjoy it occasionally. The hunt is partly a vestige from the past, but it's also seeking a foothold in today. As GibsonGirl mentioned earlier, the hunt also produces oil that's sold in the form of health capsules to reduce heart disease, etc.
But again, it's all about the visuals, really. If the seals were out of sight, and off camera, there wouldn't even be a discussion.
As strong animal rights advocates, the McCartneys would probably be opposed to the seal hunt in any case, regardless of what information they had about it.
From what I've seen from my short time in Newfoundland, most people here hold the environment and wildlife in extremely high regard. It's part of the culture. It's not as though the all of the sealers are killing seals because they take sadistic pleasure in it. For some, it really is the difference between being able to put the food on the table themselves, or having to rely on a government cheque to do so. And when the Canadian sealing industry has been deemed acceptable and humane by both the Canadian Veterinary Association and the WWF, I hardly see why these protestors should be getting their panties into a knot. I think I recall reading somewhere that the Veterinary Association claimed the Canadian seal hunt was a positive model for other seal hunts around the world.
