Tuesday, July 28, 2009

A RIGHTEOUS LAW

The European Union has banned seal products that are exported from Canada. The ban covers all products such as meat, fur, and omega3 fatty acids made with seal oil. The ban does not extend to seals culled for native Inuit use.

This was a humane and noble choice for the EU to legislate a ban on seal products. It is unnecessary for seals to be hunted and destroyed for food and fur when many other options, including a vegetarian or vegan diet, exist for human consumption. The seal hunts are a waste of time and effort in a modern economy because they are not part of a subsistence lifestyle but are hunted for a luxury market. It is cruel and immoral to destroy seals and other creatures commercially when alternatives exist to using fur and exported meat.

However Native seal hunts, if there are no other alternatives, are acceptable because the hunting is survival use.I have no problem with the thought of my First People ancestors hunting deer or other game and fishing salmon. They needed those foods to live. It is good that the EU made the distinction in its seal hunt legistlation to halt abuse of what should be local,indigenous, and necessary not exported, commercial, and exploitive.

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