Brainwashed?

Have I become brainwashed by Norwegians, when discussion (at least at the web-page of Hesari..) about ban on sealing is in my opinion lacking some important arguments?

Is it correct that politics at the level of EU is based on feelings and not facts?

If we assume that humans eat meat (and the extent of this is another discussion....) is it better to have pigs and cows in small cages than hunt seals which have lived free? Or transport food from the other side of the world? Apparently no, because seals are cute, so killing them is per definiton cruel.

Sure, it is not correct to exploit populations more than they can sustain. But there is a difference between 200 seals in Saimaa and 1.8 million harp seals at "West Ice", close to Greenland. Taking also into account pollution, competition with humans for fish, disappearing sea ice and a bunch of uncertanties in population estimates it should still be safe to exploit this population. If it is done with caution.

And sure, it is not correct to kill animals in a way that they suffer. But most of killed seals die from bullets, one could well say rather rapidly. Without a transport in car to an approved slaughter-house hundreds of kilometers away. People also claim that using hakapik is actually fast if you have experience... I dont know too much about that, though, but I dont doubt that people who have done it have more of an idea what it is than the ones who have seen photos of it. And that the hook - at the norwegian sealing vessles - is actually nowadays used for transporting killed seals instead of killing... Yes its bloody, but so is any killing. Eating meat means facing the fact that you are taking the life of another animal. Seal hunting is called "slaughtering, not a hunt where the seals would have a chanse". Do pigs have a chanse? Is hunt supposed to be an adventure for the hunter? Or a way to get food?

Do people think fish which are trawled up do not suffer? Someone once sayed that if fish could scream, trawling had been banned ages ago. But they are not so cute...

Banning products of fur of all seal species, also adult individuals seems strange. If it is question of hunting, why not manage hunting instead of fur sales? Yes, I understand that it selling products which can be mixed with products from threatened species is not a good idea. But it is actually quite possible to make a difference between adult seals... And no, I dont approve sealing if it is done only for the fur. There seems to be space for some improvement here... the norwegian sealing vessles do bring a lot of meat ashore, but since they get a better price for fur and dont have space for all meat, some of it is dumped. Ikke bra.

Finally, just for information, I dont like the taste of seal-meat too much. But it is quite ok as smoked.