I Have a Hard Time Feeling Sorry for Them

About 100 seal-hunting boats (not 100 hunters, but 100 boats with multiple men per boat)are stranded in sea ice around Newfoundland, news reports say. The Canadian Coast Guard is giving it the old college try to try to save them (the crew, not the boats).

Thing is, though, I have a hard time really rooting for the Coast Guard on this one. First off, seal hunting doesn't provide any real benefit to anyone. Nobody that I know of eats seal meat on a regular basis - or at least, not anyone who is a career fisherman. And seal fur can be pretty easily replaced with puppy fur. Puppies are just as cute as seals, their fur is just as soft, and you don't have to sail to the frozen north to club one to death.

Factory farming of cows is one thing - people eat cows. Lots of people. Same with North Banks cod and alaskan crabs. But what good are seals to the world's economy?

I do hope all of the crews survive. But I also hope their boats slide into the depths of the ocean and that the guys who are doing this for a living reconsider their employment options.