This is in response to the March 8 Daily editorial “Baby seal hunt must be humane.” I am a Canadian who is tired of people bashing the seal hunt. It is not irresponsible, it’s a living. People make the claim that it is inhuman to kill a baby seal with a club. Yet no one cares that most chickens are kept in chicken coops, which do not allow them to move frontward or backward; no one cares about the lobsters that we see at the local grocery stores, not being able to move in their free habitat.

Just think, if a cow is killed on a patch of snow, it would leave a red patch also. No, when the United States and Europe see the seal hunt, they see cute little pups being killed.

They don’t realize that people do this for a living. They think it is just a bunch of club-wielding barbarians who bash skulls for a few fur hats and some laughs.

The media does not portray the other side. They don’t tell stories on the hunters; these are men who live on unemployment checks during the winter and hope for a big catch to pay off their bills. The media do not portray this side. They want to show something that will grab the world’s attention, to make them feel sympathetic. They don’t tell about how seal hunting creates hundreds of jobs in regions where jobs are sparse.

There are going to be 335,000 seals killed this year. This amounts to a tiny percentage of the overall population of 5.8 million seals. Yet big names like Paul McCartney and Pamela Anderson strongly object the hunt. These people don’t have to live by the seat of their pants. You don’t see them living paycheck to paycheck. They haven’t had to experience the reality of living a hard life. They are on their couches and see their seals being beaten. They, of course, want to do something about it. They don’t realize it has been almost 20 years since a white baby seal has been killed.

All I ask is that people see a different light. Don’t be quick to judge, and please, don’t believe what every A-list celebrity has to say.

Ransford Lockhart is a resident of Bristol, New Brunswick. Please send comments to [email protected].