The Canadian Seal Hunt

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

An independent veterinary study concluded that 42% of these seals may have been skinned whilst still conscious. The Canadian government not only defends but also promotes this cruelty.

In 1983 the European Union banned the import of products made from ‘whitecoat’ harp and ‘blueback’ hooded seal pups.

As a result, in 1987, a Canadian Royal Commission recommended that the killing of these very young seal pups be prohibited. In 1993, Canada’s Marine Mammal Regulations were amended to prohibit the trade in whitecoat and blueback seal pups - this was intended to prevent the killing of these seals. In reality these measures just caused the goal posts to be moved.

It now means that a harp seal can be legally killed as soon as it begins to shed its whitecoat, around 10 or 12 days after birth. Hooded seals can be killed when they shed their blueback pelt at about 15-16 months of age. Products from this slaughter are not covered by the EU ban and the fur trade, amongst others, has been quick to exploit this loophole. Many leading designers use seal fur in their collections and seal meat and oil is imported into Europe.

The annual seal hunt in Canada has been subject to ‘management’ since the 1970’s but the annual quota has been based more on market demand than scientific evidence. It has steadily increased since the mid 90’s during which time new federal subsidies have encouraged sealers to kill more seals. In 2002 the number of harp seals killed exceeded the quota by 25,000 and during 2003/4/5 just short of 1 million seals were killed and in 2006 the number killed was 325,000.

The killing of what most would consider to still be ‘baby’ seals is offensive in itself but the methods of slaughter are horrific. Early in the season harp seals are still killed with clubs or hakapiks as they sit helpless on the ice, unable to escape as they still cannot survive in the water.  Later in the season they are shot both on the ice and in the water.  They are shot by fishermen, not marksmen.  The seals are on shifting ice floes and the sealers on moving boats, so many animals are only injured rather than killed.  Some injured seals try to escape by jumping into the water only to die horribly later.  As the quota is based on ‘landed catch’ these seals are not included in the figures so the amount that actually die is far greater than just the quota allowed.

The Canadian Government claims that the commercial seal hunt is humane and well regulated but independent veterinarians disagree. In 2001 a team observed sealers at work and examined carcasses left on the ice. They found that 79% of sealers did not check to see if an animal was dead before skinning it, in 40% of cases the animal had to be struck or shot a second time and that a staggering 42% of seal s were probably conscious when skinned. Despite evidence of this cruelty being passed to the Canadian authorities no prosecutions have resulted.

When deciding upon the number of seals to be killed, the Canadian Government is ignoring the change in weather patterns that are causing the ice in the main sealing areas to melt early and the pups to drown as they are unable to swim until they are much older. There is nothing to suggest that these changes may not be permanent and the effect that this could have on the harp seal population is unknown. Their response to most of the baby seals drowning in 2002 was to let the seal hunt overrun its quota as prices for seal products were higher than usual.  The appalling lack of ice in 2006 lead to a group of Members of the European Parliament writing to the Canadian Government urging them to reduce the quota of 325,000 due to the huge amount of ‘natural losses’.  They never even received an acknowledgement. 

For many years the notion of blaming the seals for the disappearance of the fish was promoted by those really responsible. Today many people, particularly in fishing communities in eastern Canada, still believe that the seals are at fault. The fact is that the seals have been used as a scapegoat.  Extensive research - and common sense - is beginning to destroy the simplistic myth of seals -v-cod. Even the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans has now moderated its position.  In fact, seals eat the North Atlantic cod’s main predator so if there were no seals the situation would be much worse.

On November 4 2003 an adjournment debate on the hunt was held in parliament and the Minister who responded for the government stated that the UK government does not think that clubbing is a humane method of killing seals and disputed the need for a cull. The UK government has contacted the Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin stating its opposition to the continuation of the hunt.

During 2005, the Minister for Trade responsible for the hunt re-iterated this and promised to look into the possibility of banning the import of all seal products into the UK.

On 15 September 2006 the European Parliament called upon the Commission to introduce an EU wide ban on the trade of all seal products by signing a Written Declaration.  This required the support of 367 MEPs to pass and was signed by 425.

There are many ways you can help end this barbaric hunt.

Please write to your MP urging him or her to sign Early Day Motion No 83 and to write to Gareth Thomas MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Trade & Consumer Affairs at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET who is minister responsible for the hunt, asking him to extend the ban that currently exists on some seal products to ALL seal products - now.  The address for your MP is The House of Commons, London SW1A OAA.  You can contact your MP via http://www.faxyourmp.com where you can also find the name of your MP if you need to.  To see if your MP has signed the EDM please visit http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31652&SESSION=885

You can also:

Stop buying any Canadian fish and seafood products

Ask you supermarket to ban these products from their stores

Stay away from Canada while the hunt continues

For more information on how to help please visit our website dedicated to ending the seal hunt, http://www.boycott-canada.com.

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