I'm not the happiest of campers at the moment, because another baby seal have been clubbed to death by a Canadian fisherman.
This massacre has been going on for decades now, and as an animal rights activist I find it totally unacceptable that the Canadian Government is supporting such cruel practice. They even raised the annual seal hunt quotas to the highest levels in history!
After becoming a member of numerous animal rights organization, I have learned one thing. It is never enough to be heartbroken. Not enough to feel sorry for whatever's happening. Which is why I decided that this year, I will dedicate one blog entry about this issue to raise awareness.
Here's a brief background on Canada's Seal Hunt I found over at www.harpseals.org:
Each year, in the harp seal slaughter, a few thousand Canadian fishermen bludgeon and shoot two-week to two-month-old seals, hook and drag them and skin many of these pups while they are still alive and conscious. They then sell the skins to European and Asian furriers. The bodies of these seals are left to rot.
In this competitive commercial slaughter, each sealer charges across the ice floes in an effort to kill as many seal pups as he can before someone else gets the pups. In 2008, sealers on longliners on the Front (the second phase of the seal hunt, off the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador) killed their quota of seals in just two days.
This atmosphere discourages adherence to rules and regulations, such as checking for blinking eyes before skinning the seal pups. Observers of the hunt have documented hundreds of violations of these regulations, but the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), which regulates the seal hunt, has rarely levied any charges against the perpetrators.
In 2008, four sealers were killed and four sealing vessels were destroyed in the treacherous icy waters. The Canadian Coast Guard rescued several sealers (at Canadian taxpayers' expense), but some sealers died in the attempted rescue. Read the news reports about the 2008 slaughter here.
The slaughter of seals in Canada has taken place for hundreds of years. Today, this annual ritual offers so little economic value to the sealers, and even to the sealing boat captains (whose take is usually 50%), that many stayed home in 2008.
To learn more about the history of sealing in Canada and the modern seal hunt, visit our About the Hunt section.
One person who has observed the slaughter of seal pups for many years and who was born and raised in the sealing province of Newfoundland and Labrador is Rebecca Aldworth. In her journal, she described what she saw on the ice floes:
"As we passed one large red vessel, we saw sealers jump off the side onto the ice. They ran towards a single live seal pup, hakapiks in hand.
The pup, sensing danger, tried desperately to crawl towards the edge of the water. But the two men bearing down on her were faster. One sealer struck her on the side, then twice again on the head. He grabbed her hind flippers and pulled her back across the ice, stopping to club her twice more. He grabbed her front flipper and turned her over.
But then the second sealer kicked the wounded pup with his boot. Seeing a reaction, he motioned to the first sealer, who clubbed her four more times on the head.
Not to be outdone, the second sealer grabbed his hakapik and clubbed the baby seal once more. He flipped her over and began to cut her open -- only to roll her back over so the first sealer could club her three more times. This poor baby seal was clubbed thirteen times in total."
How can you save Harp Seals?
Join the boycott of Canadian Seafood and encourage your local grocer and restaurant to do the same.
Write to Gucci, Prada, and Versace, to express your opinion of their products made from Harp Seal pups.
If you are a Canadian citizen, write to your MPP / MPP and express your opinion of the seal hunt.
Write to Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and express your opinion of the seal hunt.
Urge Canada’s Minister of International Trade to Stop the Seal Hunt.
Learn more about Seals and consider joining organizations that are rallying to end the seal hunt.
