Seal Hunting Essay

In an article by Paul Koene he talks about there being three categories that inspector’s base animal welfare off of these categories include health, body, and functioning of the animal including their feelings, natural history, and their ability to use their natural instinct (Koene). Based off of these categories the welfare of the killer whales at SeaWorld is terrible. A lot of the time SeaWorld gets reports that the whales are floating lifeless in the water, they are not really provided the opportunity to use their natural instincts, and are extremely restricted on what they can and cannot do. Based off of this information the only humane way to keep a killer whale is let it live in the wild like they are built

There is an overabundance of seals, by the government setting a quota and people following that they ensure that there will still be a thriving population of seals. (FAQS: The Atlantic seal hunt, 2009). The benefits for Newfoundlanders from the seal hunt are unconceivable; it helps our province become economically stable and our unemployment rates go down. Most importantly with the population control of seal, it would hopefully one day lead to the day where the moratorium is lifted.

One specific hunt those organizations are trying to stop is the Canadian seal hunt or “Canadian seal slaughter” (Harpseals.org, n.d.) which is held between November 15th to May 15th every year in Canada. There are Thirteen species of seals that inhabit the waters of North America but two are mainly hunted, the harp seal and hooded seal, and more specifically baby harp seals between 3 weeks to 3 months, mainly for their pelt which sheds after that. Found Archaeological evidence reveals that the indigenous people of eastern Canada hunted seal for at least 4000 years. when the first Europeans arrived in the early 16th century, they began hunting seals, they began with hunting the walrus which lived along the Gulf of St Lawrence and the north shore

Every year in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Northern Atlantic Ocean, three Canadian seal populations are opened for commercial hunting. Since the 1750s, hooded seals, grey seals and iconic harp seals have been hunted for their valuable pelts and omega-3 rich oil. After being nearly hunted to extinction in the 1800s and a period of extensive anti-hunt activism in the 1960s and 70s, the hunt has become strictly regulated. Now, activism has forced the Atlantic Seal Hunt to support and maintain standards of sustainable resource harvesting and humaneness, and this hunt now has the potential to be a role model in these areas for other similar hunts worldwide.

Since 1961, Killer whales have been held captive in a tank for entertainment. Helpless whales get captured from their families and get forced to live in artificial social groupings. At least 56 orcas have been captured and are currently held in captive. 23 of them were captured from the wild, and 33 were captive born. At least 163 orcas have died in captivity, not including the 30 miscarriages held in captivity. As you can tell, killer whales have a great negative impact when their in captive.

For many of years animal activists have been trying to put a stop to all animal hunting, abuse, using animals for supplies. The problem with doing this is that it may effect a large amount of people who live off of these animals, in particularly the seal. The Canadian Inuit is a large group of people about 46,000 people as an estimation, that use seals as a multi source. The Canadian Inuit use the seal for a source of cash through fur sales, they used the seal for meat, and once used seal for oil lamps. In 1980 animal rights activists got their way and made it so that seal hunting was no longer legal. This affected thousands of Canadian Inuit who lived in small arctic hamlets who lived off of seal. The question is who is better off the Canadian Inuit, or the animals rights activists?

The Hawaiian Monk seal is a greatly endangered marine species. These adorable creatures are being used for human goods such as their skin, meat, and oils. Not only this, but predators like Sharks and poisoning have also killed off the breed. Today in 2017, only about 1,100-1,400 are fighting for their lives. Since these beautiful creature, live on a touristy island, it is common for humans to be one of the biggest threats. Humans can throw litter and plastic into the water just to watch these animals suffer. Their own kind have also been a rising cause of these animals decreasing population by the males killing the females in group attacking called “mobbing”. These creatures are supposed to live anywhere

Baby harp seals are disappearing in population because of the climate change going on near their habitat. These pups are constantly drowning and being crushed by melting ice every day. If this keeps occurring, they will quickly stop breeding and eventually become extinct. Although they are not endangered, baby harp seals are passing by the minute. If you think this is unacceptable and want them to be saved: choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases, replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, use a clothesline instead of a dryer when possible, cover your pots when cooking, and speak up to the public about how others can do these things too!

The population decline in monk seals is due to several different factors with the biggest reason due to the low pup and juvenile survival rates (Curtice et al, 2011). At the Kure Atoll on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, 32 pups were observed in 1964 and 30 pups were observed in 1965. Of these pups born, all but one died or disappeared within 60 days after birth. This was also seen in the 1970’s at Green Island and Kure Atoll, where a mean population of 17 and 14 seals, respectively, was counted on these beaches, with a birth total of 10 showing a population decline of 70% (Gilmartin et al, 2011). The juvenile survival rate is still seen today with one in five monk seals surviving to the reproductive age, with one year old seals having the highest mortality rates (Norris et al, 2011).

The second captive killer whale was in 1964. This eventually ended up as the first whale to be kept in captivity for a period of time. Today there are 52 killer whales in captivity that have great health and are with Sea World. Killer whales should stay in captivity because zoologists are finding better ways to help killer whale survival such as research and watching the things the orcas do. They are better taken care of and give zoologist and themselves the scientific benefits they need because scientists earn more information and the whales are provided with better health

The research shows that killer whales are not healthy in captivity. But we can stop this and seaworld has taken some steps to help solve the problem that orcas aren’t healthy in captivity. This problem affects the orcas big time, and the trainers that take care of them. Killer whales in the wild are having a great time, but remember in some countries there are no laws stopping them from catching or killing orcas. Maybe we should call them killer humans, instead of calling orcas killer whales because they’re really the problem. Research highly suggest that they expand their tanks or just plain out stop pulling killer whales out of the ocean. Some laws have been passed in the US to stop people from killing orcas or pulling them out of the ocean.

At least 164 Orcas, Killer whales, have died in captivity all of them being premature deaths. Orcas should not have to suffer in captivity and should be left alone and stay in the wild. All Orcas in captivity will die at half there age. They must live in tiny tanks equaling to us living in a bathtub. They are captured from the wild when they are young and are taken from their family and then forced to interact with other whales from different whale pods which also speak a different language then them.

This causes aggression and mental, emotional, and physical stress that leads to a poor immune system, making them prone to disease. Even though captive whales are kept in an environment without pollution and predators, they die young. For infant whales in captivity, the death rate is much higher, which isn’t fair. Aggression is also a matter of grave concern. Some examples of actions whales in captivity have expressed towards their trainer are, butting, biting, grabbing, ducking, and even holding trainers at the bottom of the pool and preventing their escape

SeaWorld doesn’t have the whales best interest at heart and doesn’t deserve to continue to operate. These whales are psychologically disturbed and SeaWorld knows how they are treating them is completely wrong. During one of the tours they said “ Whales live up to 25 years in the wild but they tend to live longer in our park”(Cowperthwaite). This is scientifically wrong Orca’s live the normal life span of a human being, sometimes even longer. If SeaWorld is making millions of dollars off of these animals you would think they would at least tell the public the correct information. One of the former trainers has said “Young orcas have so much energy and curiosity—I could

Commercial whaling is a serious world issue that has always been difficult for those who are in support and those who are against it. Each group defends their side with convincing arguments. Morally, whaling is wrong, but do the reasons for whaling outweigh the reasons to cease the primitive hunts? By studying the effects of whaling,realizing how culture has changed over time, and taking note of the money that would be saved, it can clearly be seen that there is no longer a current need for whaling to continue. Efforts have been made to try to stop whaling, but with no help from any authoritative figure,nothing has been done to regulate the whaling. The famous sea shepherd, known for its strikes against whaling, can even be seen on