News from The Animal Kingdom

New Zealand: South Island
23 fur seals were clubbed to death at the Kaikoura colony at the beginning of this month. It's really hard to wrap my head around the idea that this brutal BARBARIC act still goes on in such a modern society. Seals were given full protection by the New Zealand government in 1849, and under New Zealand's Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1978 there are penalties of up to 6 months imprisonment or a hefty fine for the killing or harming of fur seals and other marine mammals. The problem with that is, the amount of cash money that these poachers will get for the seal fur FAR outweighs any risk of potential jail time. Fur has long been considered a status symbol, and although there has been a decrease of fur in the States, many other countries still love to prance around in dead animals. I can't figure out if people don't know any better due to lack of education on where their clothes are coming from, or if they know but just don't give a shit.
In case you aren't familiar with how fur seals are killed, I'm about to school you right quick. Some of the hunters use firearms, which is the most humane way to go about it if they must go about it at all. The other way the hunters do their thang is by using a little tool called the "hakapik." This weapon that is seemingly older than the cavemen, is comprised of a heavy wooden club with a hammer head and metal hook on the end. The hammer part is used to crush the seals thin skull while the hook is used to move the carcass. As silly as it sounds, there are actually regulations on how to properly club the seal to death. I feel like a regulation somewhere along the lines of, JUST DON'T DO IT, would serve a better purpose. Anywho, the regulations state that the seal must be struck on the forehead until the skull is completely crushed. The poachers must be sure that the seal is dead before they begin to skin or bleed the seal out. The regulations say that one can be sure a seal is dead when it has a "glassy-eyed, staring appearance and exhibits no blinking reflex when the eye is touched." In one study, 3 out of 8 times the seal was not rendered dead by shooting and the hunter has to hakapik it to death.
It's hard to say what would stop people from killing fur seals, or any other animal in which their lives are taken so humans can feel warm and cozy. There are so many different cultures who view animals as not having feeling or emotion and whose sole purpose for being on this planet is to serve whatever our needs may be. Also, poachers rely on their work to feed themselves and their families. If we can't convince others to stop killing based on morals and ethics alone, then it seems as if the only real solution would be to introduce an alternative to the fur; something that would replace the killing of the animal but would still create the cash flow, and faux fur just doesn't seem to be cutting it. (No pun intended.)