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If you are thinking this is not much different from eating pork or beef or wearing wool... please think again. Until they start farming and breeding seals, I refuse to compare seals to livestock.

What is the annual seal hunt? When and where does it happen?
Seal hunting in general is the commercial hunting of seals for their pelts, blubbber, penis and meat. Sealing nations include Canada, Greenland, Namibia, Norway, and Russia. Canada is hands down the largest sealing nation with hundreds of thousands of seals being hunted each year. The sealing season is officially November 15 to May 15 but the majority of the hunting happens in late March off the coast of Newfoundland. In the year 2006 alone, 325,000 harp seals + 10,000 hooded seals + 10,400 grey seals were killed in addition to the 10,000 allocated for hunting by Aboriginal peoples. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) says the seal population is stable at five million and that the yearly quota of 325,000 harp seals is sustainable

Equipment and methods used to slaughter seals
The DFO also says that the current methods used to hunt seals are the most humane ways possible. Currently, tools used to kill seals are hakapiks and rifles. A hakapik is a heavy wooden club with a hammer head and metal hook on the end. The hammer is used to crush the skull while the pick is used to move the carcass.In numerous other cases, the seals had to be struck multiple times before they die. A hunter may also use a rifle but they prefer to use clubs to prevent damage on the pelt.

Products made from seals
Seal skins are used to make waterproof jackets and boats, and seal fur is even being used by some high-end fashion. Seal meat is sold to the Asian pet food market, and used as fodder for farm animals. Seal blubber is used to make seal oil, which is marketed as a fish oil supplement. The oil is also sometimes used as a raw material for red ochre paint. Seal penises are sold as aphrodisiacs in Asian markets. Also, seal hunting is being seen as a culling method to increase cod stocks for commercial fishing.

Awareness
Donatella Versace and Gucci use seal fur - find out if your haute couture is not so hot after all. Make sure your water-sports gear and equipment do not use seal pelt. Do your homework and find out if your pet food or farm fodder uses seal products. Get your Omega-3 from genuine fish oil and make sure to not use "fish oil supplements". Make sure your red ochre paint does not use seal oil and uses cod/linseed oil instead. And for the love of all that is good, do not eat penis and use the normal oyster, strawberry, chocolate and even balut to get your groove on. There are many more things you can do to help protect the seals.

You know, I read on today's paper that there are new guidelines in place to make sure that the killing of seals is "even more humane." After clubbing a seal, the hunter has to inspect the seal's eyes to make sure that the animal is dead. Otherwise, the animal has to be bled to death by cutting its main artery. This is a recommendation in response to reports that seals have regained consciousness after clubbing. I only hope they at the very least do this for every one of the 325,000 seals they will be slaughtering this year.