By Tim Saunders on
Bill Maher has written an opinion piece in the New York Daily News, urging Canada to stop its annual massacre of seals.
Although this year’s cull was smaller than usual, Maher laments the fact Canada won’t stop the barbaric practice altogether and ponders if Canadians have a phobia of baby seals.
“There are a lot of things to admire about our neighbor to the north, but the country’s strange seal phobia is not one of them,” he writes. "Canada is terrified of seals. Baby seals, in particular. I know, it doesn’t make any sense to me either.
“Canada’s seal “hunt” – which happens every November to June off Canada’s east coast – is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet, leaving tens of thousands of animals dead every year. And let’s be clear: The Canadian government may call it a “hunt,” but impaling baby seals in the jaw with hooks, dragging them across the ice and throwing them into a pile where they choke on their own blood before being skinned isn’t a sport – it’s a massacre. The video of it is like a starter snuff film designed for serial killers.
“Opposition around the world is growing… The European Union, for example, recently passed a ban on seal products… When Russia announced a ban on the killing of baby harp seals in that country, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called the seal slaughter a “bloody industry that should have been banned long ago.” Note to Canada: When your officials are making Vladimir Putin look like the voice of reason and the U.S. Senate appears to be a model of civility, you’re doing something wrong.
“Canada is spending millions of dollars – and despite what you may have heard, Canadian dollars are real money – on desperate efforts to prop up the dying commercial seal slaughter, including rushing [Fisheries Minister Gail] Shea to China to try to peddle seal pelts there and posting a $75,000 contract for a “Social Media Reputation and Online Issues Management” adviser to track seal chatter on the Web"."
To read Bill Maher’s entire piece, visit NYDailyNews.com.
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