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| The HSUS |
A harp seal pup on northern Gulf ice floes
this spring. |
by Loren Drummond
The spotlight on Canada's commercial seal hunt shifted north in anticipation of the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence phase. Sealers will be allowed to begin slaughtering thousands of seals on northern ice floes April 4.
Sealing boats made their way from the fragmented ice of the Magdalen Islands and the east coast of Quebec to solid ice floes in the north. In Newfoundland, reporters, scientists, and HSUS observers filed into Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans offices to receive permits for observing and documenting the hunt over the next several days. These permits had been denied to all observers by the agency for yesterday's start of the annual commercial hunt in the southern Gulf.
"I was devastated knowing there were animals being killed and that no one was there to document," said The HSUS' Rebecca Aldworth, who will observe and document the hunt for the ninth straight year. "The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees our right to observe this hunt, which occurs in a public space."
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Why Observation Is Important |
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 Witnesses are the eyes of the world. The hunt occurs out of public view, and observers can document and expose the cruelty.
Witnesses document violations of the Canadian Marine Mammal Regulations, such as failing to ensure that seals are dead before skinning them. Such evidence can lead to prosecutions of the offenders.
Documentation can provide independent scientific review of government and industry-backed studies and claims.
Images and testimony from witnesses of the hunt has been the primary factor in moving individuals and governments to action. |
The blanket denial of permits for the southern phase of the hunt had raised some concern that the Canadian government would restrict documentation of the second—and likely far more gruesome—stage of the hunt. Officials, however, approved observation permits to journalists, animal protection and other observers alike.
Aldworth said the ability of individuals to witness the hunt was crucial to protecting seals: "If we weren't there, no one would see the horrific cruelty to seals."
In the government offices granting observation and sealing permits, Jim Winters of the Canadian Sealers Association and Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesman Phil Jenkins spoke with and granted interviews to members of the media applying to document the hunt. They both declined to speak on the record with The HSUS.
Officials have not addressed concerns raised by governments, The HSUS and other animal cruelty organizations about the cruelty of the seal hunt.
