WHY THE SLAUGHTER?

Why Slaughter seals, you may ask?

What is it about this particular species of animal that has made it the target of such an intense campaign of slaughter every year for hundreds of years?

The answer is very complex and varies from each point of view:

The exploitation and commercial slaughter of the harp seal is one of the most tragic stories ever known to mankind, and in particular, to people who care about such things. Before the advent of "modern technology" and hunting methods, the harp seal was an honored animal playing an invaluable role in the very existance of human beings on the eastern seaboard of Canada. Fur, meat, and bone were utilized in every conceivable fashion by the native peoples and were necessary for sustaining daily life in the arctic...

Although the SUSTAINABLE killing of harp and hooded seals for food and fur had indeed been occuring for thousands of years by native peoples of northern lattitudes, the most recent 300 years brought about a new reason for killing harp seals: COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION, and with that, the end to any shred of earlier, necessity from sealing.

An incessant desire and greed for the profits to be made from the seal's oil and pelts drove many men and businesses into a pathetic circle of death and despair for most involved. (Sealing was an extremely dangerous business throughout history and many sealers lost their lives while pursuing their sealing livelihood.)

Only a few aristocratic families earned immense wealth and profits from the hard work and uneducated despair of the average man trying to earn a living the only way he thought he knew how... from the slaughter of seals.