Canadian Seal Hunt Focus of International Protest

FRIDAY HARBOR, Washington, March 15, 2004 (ENS) - Today, people around the world who object to the Canadian seal hunt will be faxing and e-mailing Canadian government politicians and bureaucrats to protest the killing of 985,000 harp and hood seals over the next three years.

The hunt takes place each spring off the east coast of Canada and provides income to about 12,000 sealers and their families in eastern Canada, particularly in some Newfoundland communities that lack many employment opportunities.

The protest is led by longtime seal hunt protester Captain Paul Watson, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society based in Friday Harbor, Washington and Santa Monica, California.

Paul Watson as pictured on the cover of his 2003 book "Seal Wars: 25 Years on the Front Lines with the Harp Seals." (Photo courtesy Amazon.com)

He has been jailed and beaten by the Canadian police for opposing the seal hunt, but Watson says he will never stop trying to end the annual slaughter.

"We will end this horrific atrocity because if we do not, it will mean surrendering to all that is base, corrupt and ignoble within humankind," Watson says.

"We seek a victory for gentleness, kindness, respect and harmony between humankind and sealkind. We fight for the defenseless against the remorseless. We fight for life against those who preach death for profit. We champion the survival of a species that is being scapegoated for the incompetence of the Canadian and Norwegian bureaucrats," said Watson. "We fight to stop the slaughter and to stem the flow of blood upon the ice."

Sealer raises his hakapik to dispatch a seal. (Photo courtesy Global Action Network)

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) says the harp seal population is healthy and abundant and has nearly tripled in size – 5.2 million based on the latest peer-reviewed survey. By comparison, it was 1.8 million in 1970.

And the images of smashed and broken baby seals from past seal hunts will not be seen this year, the DFO says as the hunting of harp seal pups known as whitecoats, is prohibited.

But Watson says the seal hunt is cruel and wasteful. "It is a grossly inhumane kill that goes mostly unregulated as there are limited fisheries officer to watch and inspect the number of sealers on the ice. Credible witnesses have documented seeing seals skinned alive and tortured."

"It is also an incredibly wasteful hunt where it is estimated that for every seal landed, another is shot and lost under the ice, not to be included in the quota," Watson says.

The DFO counters that, "The killing of any animals, whether they are domesticated or wild, is never pleasant to watch. Society makes use of many different animals for food and clothing. In this sense, the harvesting of harp and hooded seals is not fundamentally different from the exploitation of livestock."

Seal hunting methods have been studied and aproved by the Royal Commission on Seals and Sealing. The Commission found that the methods used in hunting seals compare favorable to those used to hunt any other wild or domestic animal. These methods are designed to kill the animal quickly.

A recent report published by the "Canadian Veterinary Journal" concluded 98 percent of harp seals are killed in what veterinarians describe as an acceptably humane manner.

Seals from the Northwest Atlantic population give birth to one pup between late February and mid-March. Harp seals form large concentrations on the ice when pupping, making it easy for sealers to move among them with clubs, hakapiks, rifles and shotguns.

While seal hunt protesters see cruelty and resource exploitation, the government and the sealers see dollars. The 2002 seal hunt was the most profitable in memory.

The DFO estimated the landed value of seal products at over C$20 million, with many more millions of dollars being generated from economic spin-offs - an estimated total value of $48 million.

Seal products are no longer just leather and fur. When consumers purchase their next high energy bar or drink they might be eating protein derived from seals.

"Just imagine," the Canadian Sealers Association rhapsodizes, "one of nature's greatest sources of pure natural protein. Protein hydrolysate is a new, highly concentrated protein product soon to be available in capsules, also a range of flavored drinks and powder which can be added to cereal or mixed with milk and how about a protein bar."

Canned seal meat (Photo courtesy CSA)

But if Canadians feel today about the seal hunt the way they did when the last public opinion survey was taken, in 1997, a majority of 55 percent want to see it shut down. Eleven percent support closing the seal hunt completely, with another 44 percent advocating closure but allowing an exception for hunting by aboriginals and others for personal or subsistence use.

Commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Canada, the Angus Reid Group study finds that a sizable minority, 41 percent, of Canadians do not even realize that the commercial seal hunt continues to take place in Atlantic Canada.

Seventy-five percent do not want the federal government to subsidize the hunt. In addition, a majority of Newfoundlanders, 54 percent, are opposed to government subsidization of the hunt even though the province's economy is chronically poor, the pollsters found to their surprise.

Members of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the Fund for Animals and IFAW showed up in front of the Canadian Embassy in Washington on March 4 for the second HSUS led Protect Seals rally in the past five months.

Workers out in the sun on their lunch hour stopped to find out what the chanting "Shame on Canada," "Stop the Seal Kill," "Canada's Seal Kill—Canada's Shame" and signs were about. Some were shocked.

Amy Rogers Nazarov, a consultant with the Smithsonian Institution, said, "I think of Canada as such a progressive country. I'm really appalled to know that this is still an issue in the 21st century." She ended up chanting along until it was time to go back to work.

IFAW seal campaigners document a killing on the ice of Newfoundland. (Photo courtesy IFAW)

To her Canada's position is the cruelest irony. "For a country that is marketing itself on our wilderness and our wild open spaces, it is a horrible shame that off of our east coast, away from the eyes of the public, we are supporting the largest and most brutal slaughter of marine mammals anywhere in the world," she said.

In the U.S. Senate, Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, has offered a resolution banning the Canadian seal hunt. In his preparatory remarks, Levin said, "In 2001, a group of independent veterinarians traveled to observe the seal hunt. What they witnessed was shocking to all who are concerned about the humane treatment of animals. The images are difficult to envision but harder to believe: skinning of live animals and the dragging of live seals across the ice using steel hooks."

Watson is asking everyone who objects to the seal hunt to consider a boycott of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada. "In our world, where we are in the midst of the largest extinction of species in over 65 million years, people’s priorities continue to be defined by social circuses. The Olympics is the largest circus of all. It makes sense to utilize an international circus to focus attention on issues of far more importance to Earth than sports," he said.

But regardless of the protests, the resolution, the faxing and the emailing, the 2004 seal hunt is certain to take place.