Canadian Seal Hunt Analysis

Canadian Seal Hunt played a prominent role in exposing the cruelty involved in fashion industry production. The photo, taken in 1969 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, was a catalyst that provoked outrage and boycotts of fur products in Canada. The group joined forces with a wide spectrum of animal welfare groups in order to protest the unregulated slaughter of baby seals by Newfoundland and Labrador fishermen. The image in question depicts a seal hunter wielding a club to a baby seal while its mother observes in the background of the photo. This photo went beyond merely creating outrage; it also mobilized activists and inspired acts of political protests that shaped the animal rights movement.
This picture was a catalyst that shifted the nature of animal rights advocacy by creating an understanding of how powerful imagery can be when it is widely marketed. The effectiveness of this campaign ensured that this form of advocacy had a trickle-down impact on movements throughout the decades and inspired activists to rely on imagery to highlight animal cruelty. This …show more content…
(Include his first name and profession) Aldsworth states, “D. Sergeant warned under these conditions, and without imposition of effective controls, the stock of western Atlantic harp seals must be considered to be in grave danger of catastrophic decline” (94). Clearly, there was a large amount of disapproval among the science field workers who feared possible extinction of seals in Canada despite the lack of wide scale media attention. Despite this shortage of media outlet, even humane societies became involved in the struggle against the animal cruelty that was taking place in Canada. “Humane societies first sent observers to the seal hunt during the 1950s, and reports of cruelty slowly filtered out to the public” (Proulx