Editorial
by Jorgen Jensen

Recreational hunters should realize that there is much more to the issue of the Canadian Seal Hunt than what they want to believe.

You are a recreational hunter and so am I. We are both part of the worldwide wildlife management team. The commercial fisherman, the commercial seal hunter and whale hunter are also part of the team. There would not be enough recreational seal or whale hunters to have any impact to ensure sustainability. When recreational hunting is not sufficient, other hunting methods have to be implemented, as they do in Alaska at the moment. Because of the explosion in the wolf population, they use helicopters and automatic rifles. Of course, the antis are screaming.

The IWMC is asking you to show your support in opposing any sanctions against the Canadian seal hunting. They do not ask for money. By ignoring what is going on in the World as to wildlife management, you are just sticking your head into the sand. However, this is exactly what the antis want you to do, but you can be sure that they will come back to haunt you later. Most alarming, I get the impression that many individuals/organizations are doing the same. Stick their heads into the sand and be politically correct, completely ignoring what is going on in the World and especially the forces that are destroying our wild resources.

When the "save the seal" campaign was started in Europe a few decades ago, the European Parliament imposed the sanction on sealskin from Canada. This had a tremendous negative impact not only on the Canadian seal hunting but also on the Canadian fur industry in general. The seal population exploded which has had negative impact on the fishing industry in Canada and possibly also on the fishing in the North Atlantic as well as in the North Sea. Many of my family members are fishermen, fishing in the North Sea as well as in the North Atlantic. They claim that fishing is very poor compared to what it was 50 years ago. The seals and the whales are over fishing.

Because the Canadian recreational hunter as well as the trapper could not sell the pelts of the predators, nobody wanted to hunt for the bear, wolf or cougar. When the "save the wolf" campaign followed shortly after the "save the seal", the wildlife populations in many parts of Canada got completely out of balance. Your Association may or may not have supported the sanctions. However, if you stayed neutral, you in fact supported the sanctions.

Let me give you an example of what the impact of these European sanctions has been. On Vancouver Island, the deer population was about 250,000 four decades ago. When the fur industry collapsed, the hunters stopped to go for the predators and their numbers increased quickly to about 10,000 black bears and a few thousand wolves and cougars. A few years ago the deer population had declined to about 50,000. None of the young deer born in the spring will survive. Now, with a declining deer population, the predators are in trouble and are starting to starve to death. Is this wildlife management?

The situation is similar in several other areas in British Columbia (Canada). In addition to this instability in our wild resources, the antis are in good control of our politicians. The antis have developed the public perception and it is quite clear: Wildlife management is very controversial when it comes to predator control. "It is not acceptable to kill an animal of one species to the benefit of other species", and "it is completely unacceptable to kill just one wolf so that the hunters can get more deer to kill". In fact, young hunters have told me that when they were given some environmental education in school, the teacher told them "the wolf is a very important animal, it takes only the old and sick deer, while the hunter is killing all the young".

I can give you several other examples. However, this gives you an idea about what the Canadian hunter can thank his Danish or European hunter for. It also gives you an idea of what the antis have in the pot for you.