Under pressure from animal rights nutcases, the EU has decided to ban the importation of all seal products, except:
Products from traditional hunts by indigenous peoples in Canada and Greenland will be exempt from the ban.
Most affected by this ban will be Canada, where hunters take down almost 300,000 seals every year.
Apparently, the reasoning behind the ban is that it is:
in response to concerns about the animal welfare aspects of seal hunting practices
because:
Hunters usually shoot the seals or bludgeon them to death with spiked clubs. The animals’ pelts, fat and meat are traded.
…the practice is inhumane, and … some seals are skinned while still conscious.
A similar reasoning was used to push the ban of kosher and halal meats in the UK, but it failed due to backlash from both communities. Quite the same story with banning horse slaughter in the US, although I feel that this particular ban has its merits.
Animals are animals. They might have feelings, but why should that concern us humans? Their purpose on this earth is to provide food, either for humans or other animals, clothing for humans, or for other evolutionary purposes. For instance, certain animals provide natural pest-control solutions.
The only exceptions would be domesticated animals, such as dogs, cats, horses and so on, that serve as work-horses or provide companionship.
Animal rights activists would ideally like to ban all meat consumption. Each ban of this sort is only taking us closer to their utopian, animal/mother nature fantasy.
Seal meat is tasty. Seal pelts are just fabulous.
My suggestion: Canada should double seal hunt quotas and sell it off to the Russians, Africans and Asians. The Europeans can go to hell.
