Again this spring we traveled to the ice floes off Canada's East Coast to document the nation's annual commercial seal hunt, but our teams were in action long before the sealers began their bloody work. In early March, Paul McCartney and his wife, Heather Mills McCartney, traveled north with us to observe newborn pups. Their visit helped shine a global spotlight on the hunt. Then 10 days before the slaughter began, we led demonstrations against the hunt in Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C.--attracting hundreds of people and coverage by major Canadian media outlets.
When the hunt opened in late March, we were in place to document the slaughter. The sealers club and shoot the pups--most of them only 12 days to 12 weeks old. Many wounded seals slip into the water to die--and aren't counted toward the kill quota set at 300,000 this season. As there is almost no market for seal meat, the animals' carcasses are simply left to rot on the ice.
This year, sealers alarmed by our success tried to ram the inflatable boats carrying HSUS and independent news media observers. Five members of our team were promptly arrested and then released, and--in an apparent setup---authorities revoked our observation permit for allegedly coming too close to a sealing boat. Our staff were then blocked from boarding a helicopter to film the hunt, and a truck forced our van into a ditch. Hunt supporters also surrounded the hotel where our team members were staying in an attempt to keep us from our task.
We persevered, though, and managed to gather footage of the carnage--exposure that makes a difference. Video of the 2005 hunt had been crucial in convincing Greenland's government to direct its sealskin processing company, Great Greenland, to stop trading in Canadian sealskins. As the company also operates in Denmark, Danish trade in Canadian sealskins was effectively halted, as well. Greenland joins Belgium, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, and Mexico in banning these products.
And these governments aren't alone. Since March 2005, more than 400 seafood wholesalers, distributors, restaurants, and grocery stores, along with 280,000 individuals, have pledged to boycott Canadian seafood products until the hunt ends for good, and with measurable effect--the value of exports to the United States has already declined by 10 times the hunt's value. Canadian snow crab exports to the United States--affected by fuel costs and exchange rates but also largely by the boycott--have dropped Can$158 million, a 32 percent decline.
These efforts are more important now than ever in light of a report by conservation biologist Stephen Harris of a Bristol University showing that the hunt's high kill levels threaten harp seals' very survival. It's estimated that more than half of the pups born each year are slaughtered--the highest kill levels since the 1950s. We'll keep working until the hunts are a thing of the past, but we need your help. Please visit www.protectseals.org to join our Canadian seafood boycott and learn more about how you can help protect seals.
