I love the seal hunt. Whether it’s the commercial hunt or the traditional hunt, it doesn’t matter, they are both as valid as farming any other animal.
First off, they are pests, if left to breed uncontrollably they’ll eat all the fish and throw the arctic ecosystem off balance.
Secondly, the natives have been doing this for hundreds of years, it’s a part of their culture. Who is the rest of the world to judge this? Do you judge bullfighting too? What about veal production? What about many Indians not eating cows?
Third, it’s a food source for the natives. The recent episode with our Governor General was that she visited the natives who then caught a seal, she opened it up with a traditional seal skin cutting knife, and ate a piece of the heart, which is the #1 best piece of the seal and is usually given to the elders or other highly respected individuals. If anything, I give her kudos for eating a piece of a warm heart. I’m not sure if I would find that too appealing.
The outrage over the seal hunt is simply put, hypocrisy, and worse yet international meddling. People find it easy to be offended at the thought of killing cute baby seals, but they have no issues about eating a piece of veal or lamb even though THOSE are cute animals too.