Sealing and child sex trade
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:
TORONTO, Ontario––The International Fund for Animal Welfare drew
headlines across Canada on March 7 with graphic newspaper ads depicting the penis
bone of a seal and decrying Canadian support of the slaughter of at least 50,000 seals
off the Atlantic coast, allegedly to supply penis bones to the Asian aphrodisiac trade.
As IFAW pointed out, that trade is closely associated with the forced recruitment of
children to staff brothels in Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, and elsewhere, which
cater to the belief that sex with a virgin can rejuvenate an aging man’s potency. More
than 400,000 children are currently victimized, The New York Times Magazine of
January 16 reported, many of whom contract AIDS and other serious diseases.
As many as 150,000 seals may be killed to get 50,000 penis bones, since
much of the hunting is done from small boats by men with rifles, the sexes of seals are
not obvious, and as even seal hunt defender George Wenzel has acknowledged, as
many as two out of each three shot seals who get off of ice floes into water sink before
they can be gaffed aboard a power boat. Canada contends that the penis bones are a
byproduct of hunting for meat, pelts, and seal oil, which sell for about $20 per seal;
the penis bones go for $130 apiece.
