Crown Prosecutors Present The DFOs Case Against Seal Hunt Observers Today

Thursday, October 18, 2007

HAVRES-AUX-MAISONS, QUEBEC - The trial of five seal-hunt observers began today, 18 October, relating to technical violations of Canada’s Fisheries Act during the 2006 commercial hunt. The Crown presented their case, based on a single witness - a Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) officer who witnessed the alleged offences.
The testimony of this lone witness highlights the weakness of the DFO’s case against these five observers and the absurdity of these charges.

The lawyer of the accused, Clayton Ruby, stated, “I expect to prove, based on objective scientific evidence and analysis of video tapes, that my clients are utterly innocent of this charge.” Tomorrow, counsel for the defendants is expected to introduce video evidence disproving the allegations. Cross examination of the Crown’s witnesses wraps up today.

The defendants are representatives of Respect for Animals, the Humane Society International and The Humane Society of the United States. After documenting the commercial seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in March, 2006, from their small inflatable vessels, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Canada’s DFO charged them with violating a required 10-metre barrier from sealers hunting on the ice as a condition of their observation permits.

The defendants - Canadians Rebecca Aldworth and Andrew Plumbly, Americans Chad Sisneros and Pierre Grzybowski, and British citizen Mark Glover - were present on the ice floes to record the annual cruelty of the seal slaughter, providing video evidence of baby seals being clubbed, shot and skinned to concerned citizens around the world.

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