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| The HSUS |
Sealing boats docked in the Magdalen Islands earlier this week
are on the move to hunt seals April 4 in the northern Gulf. |
by Loren Drummond
In the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence today, a handful of sealing boats searched out some of the only surviving seal pups in the area to kill and skin for their fur.
The killing marked the start of the multi-stage, commercial seal hunt in Canada. In the area where the Canadian government authorized sealers to begin hunting this morning, catastrophic ice conditions already led to the deaths of as many as 90 percent of seal pups in March.
The HSUS' Rebecca Aldworth, who is located in Newfoundland to observe the hunt for the ninth straight year, condemned the sealer's actions. She said that ice conditions would mean a cruel death for the seals killed.
"We know the sealers are shooting at these pups as they cling helplessly to tiny pans of ice floating in the sea. Some are still not yet old enough to survive in the water—they have no way to escape," she said.
Canada's annual hunt will occur in several phases over the coming weeks. Officials will allow 270,000 seals, most of them pups, to be clubbed and shot to death for their fur. Journalists, scientists and observers who were
denied permits to observe the hunt in the southern Gulf will be issued permits for observing the next stage in the hunt tomorrow, officials said.
Sealers based out of the Magdalen Islands and the east coast of Quebec have been moving into position for the hunt in the northern Gulf, where thousands of seals are expected to be killed.
"In less than 48 hours, the seal hunt will begin in earnest in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The sealing boats are coming; they will be in position tomorrow. Here in Newfoundland, the ProtectSeals team has undertaken a monumental logistical operation to ensure we will be ready to meet them," said Aldworth.
