First, a little background on Canada's cruel seal hunt.

This hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on earth - yes, even more than the shooting of stray dogs by our beloved municipal councils. For the past 3 years, more than one million seals have been killed for their fur. The hunters target baby seals - the babies can't run as fast, and their fur is softer. Their preferred killing method? A swift club over the heads of the seals.

Believe it or not, the seal hunts are subsidized by the Canadian government, who insist this is just like any other animal production industry. They also claim that their methods of killing are humane.

However, a group of independent veterinarians have proved otherwise:

• 79% of the sealers did not check to see if an animal was dead before skinning it.
• In 40% of the kills, a sealer had to strike the seal a second time, presumably because it was still conscious after the first blow or shot.
• 42% of killed seals examined were found to have minimal or no fractures, suggesting a high probability that these seals were conscious when skinned.

Mother Nature also disagrees with the Canadian government and their hunters.

In the most recent hunt, foul weather left several boats trapped in thick ice off the country's Atlantic coast. Several of the boats were threatened with damage or sinking and five crews had to abandon their vessels in conditions fishermen described as the worst for more than 20 years. As many as 500 men were stranded off the coast of Newfoundland province.


A boat stranded in the ice.

As one hunter said, "I have never, ever experienced anything like this."

Ok, so maybe this is really caused by the impact of global warming.

But I like to think it's Mother Nature's way of saying "ENOUGH!"