Economic Necessity of Cruelty?

[organica]

As those of you who have been following the Paul & Heather McCartney/seals protest are aware, a big argument lobbied against them is that Northern Canadian people rely on killing seals to survive. Danny Williams, Nfld's Premier, says these people have no other livelihood to fall back in,as they are not highly educated & their local economies are dead/dying except for fur, fish & a few other natural-resource-based industries.

In Nova Scotian newspapers this week, there has been letter after letter to the editor bashing the McCartneys for being oblivious to the reality of Northern Canadian hunters & the local economy.

I'm about to put together an investigative journalism piece for radio on the seal hunt, & the Department of Fisheries & Oceans is very pro-hunt, as is almost everyone I've spoken to. :(

In fact 2 years ago, I was reprimanded in my first radio job for voicing displeasure with the seal hunt.

The mentality around here is that cruelty against animals is ok, because the economy in places from Nunavut to Nova Scotia is very dependent on it. I honestly have no idea how to answer that, because I don't know what else these traditional hunters/trappers/ranchers could be doing to support themselves.:wall: The McCartneys say ecotoursim, but tourism was actually down this past year for Nova Scotia. Meanwhile the provincial gov't just granted local mink farmers several million dollars to sustain their activity.

Is there any way to replace the fur industry with something viable economically in these often remote communities with undereducated, poor, traditional animal-abusing cultures?

[Amy SF]

If tourism is down in Nova Scotia, I'm willing to bet it's because of the seal hunt. So they have only themselves to blame.

[sproutsfan]

The mentality around here is that cruelty against animals is ok, because the economy in places from Nunavut to Nova Scotia is very dependent on it.
The same argument was made by slave-owners in the 18th century. I seriously doubt that any damage to the economy could cause greater suffering than that caused by the seal industry. However, if organisations and countries are going to pressure these people to stop, they should help them find alternatives. I'd like to see environmental/animal rights charities put some money into educating people and finding them other jobs as a long-term solution to issues like this.

[Gnome Chomsky]

>>The mentality around here is that cruelty against animals is ok, because the economy in places from Nunavut to Nova Scotia is very dependent on it. I honestly have no idea how to answer that, because I don't know what else these traditional hunters/trappers/ranchers could be doing to support themselves.>>

To get you to further specify...are you interested in assigning blame to a particular party in this situation? If so, I would point to the wider systemic economic constraints which make the local economy dependent on seal hunting in the first place rather than the individual hunters.

>>I seriously doubt that any damage to the economy could cause greater suffering than that caused by the seal industry.>>

I seriously doubt these factors can be quantified in a way that makes them comparable.

>>I'd like to see environmental/animal rights charities put some money into educating people and finding them other jobs as a long-term solution to issues like this.>>

This would be a step in the right direction. Of course, education is not enough. The high-quality jobs which require education need to be there in the first place.

---ebola

[Ludi]

I agree, helping to find alternatives for people is very important, instead of just saying "Stop it you evil person!" Most of us have evil jobs to some extent, but any effort we can make to find less evil ones, or make the ones we have less evil, is helpful.

I don't have much knowledge of far northern climates, so I don't have anything to suggest, really...those climates aren't very friendly to humans.

I'm looking in my permaculture book to find suggestions, but there aren't many for very cold climates. Berry farming is about the only suggestion for cold climates that doesn't involve animals.

[Indian Summer]

A funny observation: It seems Nova Scotia is on the same altitude as southern France. I was on the Riviera in 2004. It's a beautiful place for swimming and getting a tan. Too bad you guys don't have the Golf stream up there, organica :)

I wonder how people in Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet etc make a living. Those communities are supposedly less dependent on cruelty industries to sustain themselves.

[Vegmedic]

If tourism is down in Nova Scotia, I'm willing to bet it's because of the seal hunt. So they have only themselves to blame.

I believe that tourism is down every where in Canada due to the strength of our dollar lately. It is at about 85 cents compared to the American dollar. A couple years ago it was at 65 cents. Tourism is highest here when the dollar is weakest.

[organica]

Another piece of proof that cruelty is considered an economic necessity in Canada: http://www.herald.ns.ca/NovaScotia/488313.htm

(gov't encouraging more mink farming)

[organica]

>>
To get you to further specify...are you interested in assigning blame to a particular party in this situation? If so, I would point to the wider systemic economic constraints which make the local economy dependent on seal hunting in the first place rather than the individual hunters.

.

---ebola

I can see it's a larger problem. I'm not simply trashing the hunters themselves, although if they refused to hunt, the industry would die out.
The biggest problem is sustained demand for fur products, esp. in Asia.