"Clubbing animals for fur" is reductive. I think you can make a principled, ethical argument against meat consumption and animal hunting broadly, and if that's

"Clubbing animals for fur" is reductive. I think you can make a principled, ethical argument against meat consumption and animal hunting broadly, and if that's the point you mean to make here, I have nothing to push back in response. Clearly the ethics of the way we use animals should be reckoned with. But there is very little anomalous about the Canadian seal hunt. First, it goes without saying that "clubbing animals" accounts for a vanishingly tiny portion of the seal hunt. The traditional hakapik is not very efficient and is typically only used by a small number of indigenous Canadians who engage in small-scale subsistence hunting. Anti-hunt groups routinely publicize the hakapik because hunting in this manner produces the visually stunning image of red blood on white ice. Mostly, the seal hunt uses the same tools that any other commercial hunt does. Side note: Anti-hunt groups have also in the past commercially engaged hunters to hunt "white coat" seals (juvenile seals), a practice which is illegal and not economical. If your perception is coloured by the notion that Canadians are clubbing baby seals, that is not by and large accurate. Second, "for fur" is reductive. It is true that seal pelts are used -- to make boots, gloves, jackets, and everything else you imagine. But in fact the seal is used more efficiently than most hunted animals. Seal fat ("blubber") is used for vitamins and oil; the entire seal meat is eaten; and seal bones are used for tools and carvings. In recent years, Indigenous art has been seen as one way to bring economic growth to the rural north, and carved bone sculpture is one of the main mediums used. This is not comparable to, for example, poaching big game for their horns and leaving the carcasses to rot. Seals are used efficiently. Third, I wanted to speak a little bit to the ecological component of the seal hunt. There are millions of seals, millions more than there are people in the areas that hunt. Seals eat cod; the Atlantic Cod population has been severely depleted and there has been a full legal moratorium on the Atlantic Cod fishery for over 20 years to help replenish stocks. Currently, there are more seals than the carrying capacity of the ecosystem allows. This has bad knock-on effects. When they can't find cod to eat, they eat capelin; capelin are otherwise a food source for cod, and so seals contribute in a direct way to the ecological imbalance that is harming cod replenishment. Of course if you oppose killing animals at any time for any reason, then, clearly you would oppose this. But there are scientific and ecological reasons to intervene and cull the seal population. Finally, I wanted to speak a little bit about the economics, and about your attribution of the seal hunt to "Canada". In fact, the seal hunt is an economic feature of only Labrador, northern Quebec, northern Ontario, Nunavut, and the NWT. When the European Union considered barring the import of seal products, these provinces and territories implored the federal government to be an aggressive advocate of their economic interests. Largely, the federal government demurred. The result was that Europe -- a continent which still allows bullfighting and at the time, allowed fox hunting -- banned the import of Canadian seal products. This caused a decrease in the price of seal by over 80% due to a decline in demand. All's fair in love and capitalism, no doubt, but this has hurt a largely poor largely rural population of seal hunters, and also inhibited the above ecologically-motivated interventions. So, again... to the extent that you believe killing animals or consuming meat is unethical across the board, I hear you and I have nothing to say in defence. I do think we will look back on our treatment of animals in shame. But to the extent we allow and recognize the killing and eating of animals, I would hate for you to come away with the idea that those "stupid fat-cat Canucks club baby seals to death and leave them to rot". These misperceptions are harmful to our ability to discuss the overall point and stem largely from well-moneyed interest groups deliberately distorting reality. We could all use a little charity and kindness when engaging with one another, and that is sometimes lost when we go for pith.