Despite international condemnation, the commercial hunt for Canadian seal pups began on March 24 across the ice floes of eastern Canada.
The hunt, which is heavily subsidized by the Canadian government, is expected to take as many as 350,000 seals over the next few weeks. Seals may be killed once they begin to moult their fluffy white coats – as young as 12 days old. Ninety-five percent of the seals killed in the hunt are under three months of age.
IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) representatives are monitoring and documenting this year's hunt. In the last five years alone, IFAW has submitted video evidence of more than 660 probable violations of Canada's marine mammal regulations to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). To date, no charges have been placed. These abuses include skinning live seals, dragging live seals across the ice with hooks ("hakapik") and shooting seals and leaving them to suffer
Sealers are required by law to perform a simple test to determine if the seal is dead before skinning it. IFAW observers rarely witness any sealers performing this test. IFAW submitted the footage to the DFO as evidence of extreme cruelty to animals and gross infractions of the marine mammal regulations that control the commercial seal hunt. Last month, a DFO representative contacted IFAW to say they would not be pressing charges
The poor excuse the Canadian government has been using to allow this butchering is that seals eat too much fish, which is meant for human consumption, ignoring the fact that Canadian fishermen have been fishing far in excess of sustainable limits.
--Astrid Appels
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