Blatant Misrepresentation and the Seal Hunt

Ooooooooh, this makes me so angry:

Today, Paul McCartney and his wife posed with a baby harp seal in an effort to protest the seal hunt.

In my opionion, anyone should feel free to agree or disagree with the seal hunt, but celebrities should not be blatantly misrepresenting the facts.

The McCartneys posed with a snow-white baby harp seal, and the article implied that the young seals are often skinned alive. Heather Mills-McCartney said that the seals are killed before they have a chance to eat a solid meal or swim.

In fact, Canadian government regulations state that seals cannot be killed until after they have undergone their first moulting - this means that "whitecoats" have to shed all their white fur before they're eligible. Young seals cannot be killed until they are weaned, self-reliant, and independent.

The seals are still pretty young - they moult when they are ~3-4 weeks old. While about 90% of seals are shot these days, some seals are still clubbed using a hakapik. However, if you are willing to accept killing of animals in general (which I think we can assume any non-vegetarian is), reputable research shown that the method can be considered humane.

I'm also curious about how people feel about all those fish the seals eat - by saving the seals you consign tons of poor little fishies to death. But they aren't so cuddly, are they?

So believe what you like, but be properly informed.