Canada’s Commercial Seal Slaughter Starts

3 April 2007

Canada’s Commercial Seal Slaughter Starts

(Charlottetown, Canada) – Canada’s annual commercial seal hunt opened today, with total catch limits set this year for 270,000 harp seals. Conservationists worldwide, including experts with IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) have condemned the hunt as cruel and unnecessary.

This year’s hunt start date was delayed due to a lack of ice and seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. IFAW surveillance flights over the past two weeks have confirmed reports of widespread ice break-up and small, scattered groups of seals. However, these conditions will not hinder the sealing industry’s attempt to reach their allotted 270,000 animal quota.

On the opening day of the hunt, the IFAW team observed sealers shooting at seals on small ice pans from their boat.

“We saw a lot of long-distance shooting – sealers firing at seals on slushy, moving ice,” said Sheryl Fink, observer and senior researcher with IFAW. “Seals were shot at and injured, but not instantly killed. One seal was hauled alive onto the deck of the boat with a steel hook before finally being beaten to death.”

“There are so few pups left because of poor ice conditions, and here the sealers were wiping out the last few survivors,” said Fink.

Canada has allowed over one million seals to be killed in the past three years. The most recent Department of Fisheries and Oceans survey indicates that the recovery of the harp seal herd has stopped and the numbers of pups born is starting to decrease.

This large-scale commercial hunt targets seal pups. Statistics provided by Canadian government scientists show that of the 354,000 seals killed last year, 98 per cent were less than three months old. Hunters are allowed to kill pups as soon as they begin to lose their white coats. Often these seals are as young as twelve days old.

Several countries have already taken action to stop the trade of seal products. This year, Belgium and Germany both passed national bans on the import of seal products. IFAW continues to urge other governments to follow this lead and close down markets for seal products.

To learn more about IFAW’s efforts to end the Canadian commercial seal hunt, visit www.stopthesealhunt.org today.

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