 |
| Respect for Animals |
| A sealer about to strike with a hakapik in 2006. |
by Loren Drummond
At a briefing today where the Canadian government released details about the annual commercial seal slaughter, officials remained noticeably silent about the cruel manner in which hundreds of thousand of seals are killed each year.
While officials did discuss ways they intend to address sealers regularly exceeding the annual quota, which this year is set at 270,000 seals, they did not address concerns raised by The HSUS and other animal welfare organizations about seal hunt cruelty. The Canadian government often makes claims that the hunt is humanely conducted despite abundant evidence to the contrary.
Rebecca Aldworth, who grew up in Newfoundland, is returning to the ice as an observer for a ninth straight year. She said the commercial hunt is inherently inhumane. "Canadian veterinary experts have confirmed this cannot be made acceptably humane because of the physical environment in which it operates—far offshore, on unstable ice floes, in extreme weather conditions—and the speed at which it is conducted. That's why, each and every year when we go out and film this hunt, we see unimaginable cruelty, including seals being skinned alive."
As officials made their announcement from Ottawa, sealers in the Magdalen Islands continued gearing their boats, preparing to head south to the surviving seal herd. When they arrive and begin clubbing and shooting the gentle-mannered harp seals, The HSUS observation team, led by Aldworth, intends to document as much of the hunt as they can.
 |
| HSUS/Brian Skerry |
| A hunter clubs a seal in 2005. |
The unforgettable images and sounds collected from the slaughter by animal welfare experts and journalists—from bloodied hakapiks coming down on the skulls of three-week-old seals to wounded seals left alive and suffering for minutes or hours—act as instruments of change, exposing the cruelty of the hunt worldwide.
"We are the eyes of the world on the ice floes," said Aldworth. "Because the public is able to see the hunt through our camera lenses, through the journalists who come to the ice floes, the world is reacting. The world is closing markets for seal products. And with the help of individuals who are boycotting Canadian seafood products, we will put an end to the commercial seal hunt."
