Dear Sir Paul McCartney,
During your recent trip to Canada, you claimed that the seal hunt is “one huge stain” on Canada’s reputation. I appreciate your concern, except that I’m afraid your call for the end of the hunt is a little simplistic and self-righteous. The annual slaughter of 325,000 baby seals is so easy to demonize. But your idealistic approach ignores the dynamic nature of the seal industry and the moral questions that you yourself have raised. I want to take this opportunity to highlight what you have overlooked.
During your demonstrations you neglect to mention that it is the consumer who stimulates the hunt by buying seal pelts. Are we to presume that sealers, armed with their infamous clubs, force people to wear seal fur? It should be noted that most of the hunted pelts are exported. If there is such a global consensus against the hunt of seals, as you and the Humane Society would like us to think, why do so many people buy seal products? Maybe your campaign should focus on convincing world consumers to be more animal-friendly.
After all, even if the government banned the hunt, how would they enforce it? As long as there is profit to be made and little government surveillance, poaching would become the norm. For example, bans on coca in Colombia have not stopped poor farmers from continuing to sell their products to the cocaine market. As long as there is demand for the drug, Colombian farmers will continue to feed their families with drug-money.
I urge you not to launch an attack campaign against marginalized Aboriginals and unemployed Newfoundlanders. Instead, put your spotlight on the consumer tastes of the fur-wearing élite, because that’s where your problem starts.
With so many people outside Canada demanding seal products, it’s also difficult to believe that you truly represent “international morals.” Is the massive slaughter of seals for fur any different from the killing of animals for meat?
As you and your wife are first to point out, humans can live quite healthily without ingesting any meat products. So there’s essentially no moral difference between buying a seal-fur coat and ordering a filet mignon, since both are needless luxuries. If we follow this logic, livestock farmers are essentially land-locked sealers with less adorable victims. But to say that vegetarianism is an international moral would be quite a stretch, even for you.
Instead of making sweeping claims about the universality of your values, you should let Canadian voters make their own judgments. You must realize that our domestic policies are determined by the needs and feelings of Canadians, not foreign special interest groups. I hope you understand why many of us disapprove of your visit.
