After reading Nicolai Brown’s article justifying the hunting of seal pups in Canada (“Justified Cruelty,” April 11), I felt he left out some very important information.

It is true that the seal populations in Canada are healthy and abundant, but seals may not be the true problem for declining cod populations.

Seals do eat cod, but they also eat other fish, including cod predators.

Therefore, by killing the seals, fishermen may be increasing the populations of cod predators. There are many other factors including overfishing, poor growth, physical condition of the cod and environmental changes. According to the Humane Society of America, in 1994 two of the Canadian government’s own environmental scientists concluded that the true cause of cod depletion was in fact overfishing. Quite simply, there is no strong scientific data to warrant this inhumane hunt.

I completely support controlling the populations of animals. With the impact of human development killing off many predators toward the top of the food chain, many animals like seals and deer overpopulate and die slow deaths from disease or encroach on other less sturdy species.

The way in which populations are controlled, however, is just as important as the need to control them in the first place. Fishers in Canada refer to them as “beaters” — seal pups that are at least two weeks old and can legally and literally be beaten over the head until they die.

The hunters use a large club or a tool that looks much like a large ice pick. Many of the baby seals are even skinned while they are still alive. You cannot convince me that there isn’t a better and more humane way to do this.

I think Phyllis Campbell-McRae, Canadian director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, drew a pretty accurate picture of the situation when she said that, “bashing them over the head is akin to smacking a puppy on the head with a hammer.”

In conclusion, while I see and understand your opinion, Mr. Brown, I must withhold my support for such a barbaric act.

Emily A. Johnson

Freshman

Pre-Medicine