The Humane Society of the United States have been working hard to stop Canada's seal hunt, you may have heard misleading statements by sealing industry spokespeople with a vested interest in continuing this annual slaughter. Take a few minutes to learn the truth about this cruel and unjustifiable hunt—and then log on to www.protectseals.org to get a glimpse, through words and video, of the gruesome practice that Canadian officials claim is "98% humane." As you'll read below, nothing could be further from the truth.
What is the ProtectSeals campaign?
Why is The HSUS asking people to boycott seafood from Canada?
Why not just go after the markets for seal products?
Should I sign the pledge to boycott Canadian seafood if I'm vegetarian?
Canada says no baby seals are killed. Is it true?
Is the seal hunt humane? Is clubbing still allowed?
Is shooting seals humane?
Is the hunt well-regulated and are the regulations monitored or enforced?
Why does The HSUS demand an end to the hunt and not just better regulations and enforcement?
Can we just buy out the sealing industry?
Isn't the Canadian seal hunt an aboriginal hunt?
Isn't the hunt acceptable because it is not wasteful—all the products are put to use?
Does the Canadian government subsidize the hunt?
Does the average Canadian support or oppose the hunt?
Why isn't The HSUS spray-painting the seals?
Will the hunt harm the harp seal population?
Won't stopping the seal hunt hurt the cod population?
Why isn't The HSUS working to stop cruelty to animals who are less "cute" than seals, such as farm animals?
Won't a boycott harm innocent people who do not hunt seals?
Why is The HSUS trying to hurt the economy of poor coastal communities?
Why isn't The HSUS working to stop sealing in its own country?
Why is The HSUS using graphic pictures?
Why is The HSUS using white coat imagery?
Why isn't The HSUS working to stop America's war in Iraq instead of focusing on seals?
What is the ProtectSeals campaign?
Each year hundreds of thousands of seal pups are slaughtered by commercial fishermen off the East Coast of Canada. The HSUS ProtectSeals campaign is part of an international effort to bring this cruel and needless hunt to an end. Since Canada's commercial seal hunt is undertaken by Canadian fishermen and overseen by the Canadian government, the ProtectSeals campaign is focused on getting Canada's fishing industry and its government to bring an end to the commercial seal hunt.
Why is The HSUS asking people to boycott seafood from Canada?
Seal hunting is an off-season activity of a few thousand fishermen from Canada's east coast. They make, on average, about 5% of their income from sealing, and the rest from commercial fisheries. Roughly two-thirds of Canadian seafood exports go to the United States each year. Canada's sealers make much more money from exporting seafood to the U.S. than they do from killing pups.
Throughout the boycott, The HSUS and its supporters are sending a clear message to Canada's fishing industry. If the industry would like open access to our market, it needs to stop supporting and participating in the commercial seal hunt. To date, more than 650,000 individuals and over 5,000 grocery stores, restaurants, casinos, and seafood suppliers in the United States have joined the seafood boycott. Companies participating in the boycott include Whole Foods Markets, Trader Joe's, BI-LO Supermarkets, Harris Teeter,The Fresh Market, Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Cafés, Ted Turner's steakhouse chain - Ted's Montana Grill, WinCo Foods, Legal Sea Foods, Lowe's Foods and Bon Appétit Management Company. A full list is here.
After nearly four decades of unsuccessful negotiations with the Canadian government, The HSUS launched a global boycott of Canadian seafood products until the commercial seal hunt finally ends. We did this after officials with the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans told us they will end the commercial seal hunt if and when the fishermen who participate in the hunt indicate their support for the hunt's end.
If members of the Canadian fishing industry help us in demanding an end to the seal hunt, the government is more likely to listen and stop the slaughter. For more information on why we think this is the most effective strategy, please go to our main boycott page.
Also, here is a web story that exposes the connection between sealling and the Canadian seafood industry.
Why not just go after the markets for seal products?
We are actively involved in Europe to close markets for seal products. The United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Mexico, and panama have either banned seal product trade or have made moves to do so. The European Union is currently considering a prohibition on seal product trade.
But more work is needed. With increasingly smaller markets for seal products, the Canadian government may try to subsidize more slaughter, which would still give sealers an incentive to kill seals. We are therefore seeking to pressure the Canadian government through a global seafood boycott; The HSUS, of course, is focusing on the United States, where most Canadian seafood is sold. We believe the Canadian government will soon realize a boycott of its seafood products is too high a price for continuing the seal hunt.
Should I sign the pledge to boycott Canadian seafood if I'm vegetarian?
This pledge is intended for everybody. Even if you don't consume seafood, please voice your concern by signing the pledge to show both the seafood industry and Government of Canada unified opposition to the seal hunt. Also, please ask the managers and buyers in the restaurants and grocery stores you frequent not to buy or sell Canadian seafood, even if you are a vegetarian. Since the seafood industry is in a position to help stop the commercial seal hunt, we need to target all seafood products exported from Canada. For more information on why we think this is the most effective tactic, please go to our main boycott page.
Canada says no baby seals are killed. Is it true?
Make no mistake: This hunt is still very much one for babies. Well over ninety-five percent of the seals killed are under three months of age. For an animal who may live more than 35 years, these are babies by any standard. Under Canadian regulations, it is illegal to kill white coats (harp seals under 12 days old). However, baby seals may be killed when they are just beginning to lose their white fur. These seals are only a few weeks old. Most have not yet had their first solid meal or taken their first swim—and they literally have no escape from the hunters.
Is the seal hunt humane? Is clubbing still allowed?
The seals are clubbed as well as shot. Hakapiks (primitive clubs) are legal and commonly used. If you watch the footage of this year's commercial seal hunt at www.protectseals.org you will see the hunters frequently using clubs. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, clubs and hakapiks are the killing implement of choice, and in The Front, guns are more widely used. The DFO has shown little interest in reducing the inherent cruelty of the hunt and enforcing its own regulations.
In 2001, a report by an independent team of respected veterinarians, who were invited by IFAW to observe the hunt, also concluded that governmental regulations were neither being respected nor enforced, and that the seal hunt failed to comply with Canada's basic animal welfare regulations. The veterinarians found a disturbing number of seals (as many as 40%) probably were skinned while alive and conscious. You can read the full report here.
When the seal hunt advocates say that the hunt is "98 percent humane," they are referring to a Canadian Veterinary Medical Association study that claims that only 2% of the seals were killed inhumanely. Some have questioned the reliability of a survey in which those carrying out the killing knew they were being observed.
Is shooting seals humane?
Shooting, like clubbing, is extremely inhumane; because hunters shoot at seals from moving boats, the pups are often only wounded. The main sealskin processing plant in Canada deducts $2 for each bullet hole on a pelt. Therefore sealers are loath to shoot seals more than once. As a result, wounded seals are left to suffer in agony and many slip beneath the surface of the water where they die slowly and are never recovered.
Is the hunt well-regulated and are the regulations monitored or enforced?
Enforcement of hunt regulations is spotty and inadequate at best. The HSUS ProtectSeals team witnessed first-hand the terrible cruelty and brutality of the hunt each year. They saw animals being clubbed and left for dead, when the animals were still alive and struggling to survive. Across the past few years, witnesses have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of animals skinned alive on the ice. They have rarely seen the blink reflex test administered.
The blink-reflex test is very simple. It involves leaning over and touching the dead animal's eyeball. If the animal doesn't blink, it is in fact dead. If it does blink, it's an indication the animal is alive and possibly conscious. Unless sealers administer this test, they have no way of knowing if the animal they're skinning is dead. Last year, witnesses did not see the test administered at all. This is a clear violation of the marine mammal regulations, but one that the government appears unable to enforce.
Why does The HSUS demand an end to the hunt and not just better regulations and enforcement?
The HSUS wants an end to this hunt because it is unconscionable to kill seals for their fur and skin. Moreover, the participation of a civilized nation like Canada in the largest slaughter of marine mammals on earth sets a horrible example for the treatment of our fellow creatures on earth.
Can we just buy out the sealing industry?
Because such a small percentage of fishermen's income comes from sealing and the sealing industry brings in such little revenue to Canada, many people wonder whether we could end the hunt simply by buying out the sealing industry. The HSUS and HSI advocate that the sealers ask the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to buy back their sealing licences. This will ensure that the sealers receive fair compensation for the additional income they make from participating in the commercial seal hunt each year. When Canada ended its commercial whale hunt, it did so through exactly this sort of license buyout scheme. As sealing licenses are sold by the DFO, only the DFO can buy them back. The DFO is the only entity that can bring an end to the commercial seal hunt. Senior officials from DFO have made clear that the only condition under which it will end the commercial seal hunt is if and when the sealer/fishermen ask for it to be ended. For this reason, we are working hard through the ProtectSeals boycott of Canadian seafood to provide adequate motivation to Canada's sealer/fishermen to retire their hakapiks and rifles and focus exclusively on fishing in the future. In 2008, only 1.3 percent of the landed value of seafood in Newfoundland came from the seal hunt. The rest came from seafood.
Isn't the Canadian seal hunt an aboriginal hunt?
Subsistence seal hunts are not the target of the Protect Seals campaign. Fewer than 1 percent of harp seals last year were killed by aboriginal people in Canada. The truth is that the commercial seal hunt near Newfoundland and in Gulf of St. Lawrence is a large scale, industrial slaughter conducted by non-native people. Powerful ice-breaking boats and sophisticated aerial-spotting techniques enable hunters to pinpoint seals with relative ease. This year, the combination of high-tech equipment and old-time brutality will translate into hundreds of thousands of dead seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Isn't the hunt acceptable because it is not wasteful—all the products are put to use?
The commercial hunt specifically benefits the fur fashion industry. The seals are skinned for their pelts and fat, and virtually all of the seal meat is left to rot on the ice. A very small amount of meat is sold to Canadian factory fur farms. These seals are killed primarily for the European and Asian fur fashion industry, and have been used by such major designers as Versace and Prada. That is not for subsistence by any means.
The use of seal oil is insignificant, and the Canadian government promotes its use to justify the hunt. There are plenty of alternatives on the market, including flax oil, which does not entail cruelty.
For more information on the fashion industry's use of seal fur and skins, please see our Designers Who Use Seal Fur page.
Does the Canadian government subsidize the hunt?
The commercial seal hunt receives many forms of subsidies from the Canadian government. The Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment reports that the government provided more than $20 million in subsidies to the sealing industry between 1995 and 2001. In 2004, more than $400,000 was provided by the Canadian government to companies for the development of seal products, and the subsidies continue. From overseas product marketing trips, to ice clearing operations by the Coast Guard, to the small fortune spent by the government defending the commercial seal hunt there are many perks the sealing industry enjoys at the taxpayer's expense.
Does the average Canadian support or oppose the hunt?
Polling shows 85% of Canadians believe seals under one year of age should be protected from all hunting. Well over ninety-five percent of the seals killed are under three months of age.
Many Canadian groups are working with us to stop the hunt, including the Vancouver Humane Society, Nova Scotia Humane Society, Animal Alliance of Canada, Environment Voters, Global Action Network, Greenpeace Canada, International Fund for Animal Welfare, World Society for the Protection of Animals-Canada, The Green Party of Canada, and many other Canadian organizations.
You can read some of the many positive comments from concerned Canadians about our campaign on this page.
Why isn't The HSUS spray-painting the seals?
Several decades ago, organizations protesting the commercial seal hunt painted some seals with dye to make their skins valueless to the fur industry. Very quickly, the Canadian government enacted legislation making this an illegal activity. Today, our ability to observe and document this slaughter is contingent upon adhering to the conditions of our observation permits, which do not allow us to spray-paint seals or otherwise disrupt the seal hunt.
Will the hunt harm the harp seal population?
Though the harp seal population has increased since the 1970s when they were severely over-hunted, their current numbers are just recovering from an all-time population low in the 1950s. Government scientists estimate that the harp seal herd has been declining since 1996, and the current plan is predicted to reduce the population even further. Poor ice conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where many harp seals give birth, may already be affecting the species as well.
Harp seal experts, The HSUS, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Greenpeace, and our ProtectSeals Network cite a wealth of scientific evidence showing the insustainability of the seal hunt. Ice cover off the Atlantic coast, where seals give birth, is rapidly thinning, and there is evidence of rising seal mortality rates. Furthermore, cruelty to wildlife, whether rare or abundant, should not be tolerated.
Greenpeace recently came out with a thorough report on the Canadian government's extreme mismanagement of the harp seal population.
Won't stopping the seal hunt hurt the cod population?
The decline of cod and other fisheries is caused by over-fishing, not marine mammals. Please see this page for a report from the internationally respected harp seal biologist, Dr. David LaVigne, who gives evidence that the Canadian government is mismanaging the seal hunt population, and that it is more concerned with its own economic interests than the health of the seal and cod population.
Why isn't The HSUS working to stop cruelty to animals who are less "cute" than seals, such as farm animals?
Humane Society International and The Humane Society of the United States work to make the world a better place for animals, regardless of how appealing the public perceives those animals to be. The Canadian commercial seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on earth, and we are working with groups all around the world, including in Canada, to stop it.
In addition to our campaign to save the seals, The HSUS has an entire department devoted to protecting farm animals. We also work to protect many other animals not considered to be as appealing as baby seals, including rattlesnakes and rats used in laboratories.
Won't a boycott harm innocent people who do not hunt seals?
The ProtectSeals boycott of Canadian seafood focuses exclusively on seafood, as Canadian fishermen are responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of seal pups each spring. While not all fishermen in Canada participate in the seal hunt, no part of Canada's fishing industry - not even its sustainable fishing sector or its aquaculture sector - has taken a stand against the seal hunt. If Canada's fishing industry would like open access to our market, it needs to stop supporting and participating in the commercial seal hunt.
Prior to launching the boycott, senior officials from Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans told us they will end the commercial seal hunt if and when the fishermen who participate in the hunt indicate their support for the hunt's end. (Canada's seal hunt is undertaken by commercial fishermen from Canada's east coast.).
Through the boycott, The HSUS and its supporters are sending a clear message to Canada's fishing industry. We regret any negative impact the seal hunt might have on those in the Canadian fishing industry who are not involved in the sealing industry, and we urge them to speak out against the hunt. If members of the Canadian fishing industry help us in demanding an end to the seal hunt, the government is more likely to listen and stop the slaughter. for more information on why we think this is the most effective strategy, please go to our main boycott page.
Launching a boycott was a last resort for The HSUS, taken only after all other attempts to end the hunt had been tried and failed. The boycott will end as soon as Canada ends its seal hunt.
Seal hunting is an off-season activity of a few thousand fishermen from Canada's east coast. They make, on average, about 5% of their income from sealing, and the rest from commercial fisheries. Seventy percent of Canadian seafood is exported to the United States each year, and this gives American consumers some leverage in ending the seal hunt.
Why is The HSUS trying to hurt the economy of poor coastal communities?
Contrary to the picture painted by seal hunt advocates, economic analysis shows that the seal hunt has very little positive economic effect on Newfoundland. The commercial seal hunt contributes less that 1% to the Gross Domestic Product of Newfoundland, the province most heavily involved in the hunt. The Canadian government and fishing industry are promoting the hunt in spite of worldwide opposition that has led to a boycott of all Canadian seafood. This is hurting fishermen far more than bringing an end to the commercial seal hunt would.
The best way forward is for the Canadian government to buy out the sealing licenses of the few thousand fishermen who hold sealing licenses. This would provide them with adequate compensation for the extra income they earn each spring killing seal pups, and it would restore full access to the US seafood market. When Canada ended its commercial whale hunt, it did so through a license retirement plan.
As for systemic issues of poverty in some towns in coastal Newfoundland, the issues are far greater than the seal hunt. The hunt goes on now, and the poverty persists. The absence of the hunt will have no impact if the Canadian government handles the transition properly. With regard to deeper economic problems in the region, we hope that the Governments of Canada and Newfoundland will work toward finding solutions that provide more economic opportunities to these communities.
when the Canadian government banned whale killing, it discovered that whale watching tours were more profitable. In the same respect, The HSUS believes seal and other wildlife-watching excursions would be better for the economy and the ecology of the east coast.
Why isn't The HSUS working to stop sealing in its own country?
The HSUS worked successfully to end the last commercial seal hunt in the United States in 1985. It was conducted on the Pribilof Islands in Alaska, and the same arguments were made then that are used to justify the seal kill in Canada. In the end, the United States government provided economic assistance and retraining to help citizens who took part in seal killing. That program was successful, and the same methods are needed now in Canada.
Why is The HSUS using graphic pictures?
Most people are unaware that Canada's commercial seal hunt continues. That's why we must work to inform the world that the seal hunt is back—bigger and crueler than ever. It is the barbarity of this slaughter that generates so much opposition. The commercial seal hunt occurs miles offshore, far away from a public that would be horrified to witness it. And that is why we show these images. It is not pleasant to see animal suffering. But it is only through observing that we can understand what is happening, and then work to end to the suffering.
Why is The HSUS using white coat imagery?
Make no mistake: This hunt is still very much one for babies. Ninety-six percent of the seals killed are under three months of age. For an animal who may live more than 35 years, these are babies by any standard. No one is saying that white coats (those under 12 days) are being targeted. However, baby seals may be killed when they are just beginning to lose their white fur and still appear to be a white coat. These seals are called ragged jackets, and we use their pictures often in our campaign. Most have not yet had their firstsolid meal or taken their first swim--and they literally have no escape from the hunters.
Why isn't The HSUS working to stop America's war in Iraq instead of focusing on seals?
We are the world's largest animal protection organization, and our mission is to help animals. If you have concerns about the Iraq war, you can find many organizations that work on peace issues. Since Canada’s seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world, The HSUS is working vigorously to oppose it.
