McCartneys Visit Harp Seal Nursery to Oppose Canada's Hunt

CHARLOTTETOWN, Prince Edward Island, Canada, March 3, 2006 (ENS) - Musician Sir Paul McCartney and his wife Heather Thursday visited a harp seal nursery off Canada's east coast to make their opposition to the Canadian seal hunt known to the world.

"Previous Canadian governments have allowed this heartbreaking hunt to continue despite the fact that the majority of its citizens - as well as those in Europe and America - are opposed to it," the McCartneys said at a news conference in Charlottetown Thursday.

"We have complete faith that Prime Minister [Stephen] Harper will take swift and decisive action to end the slaughter of these defenseless seal pups for good," the couple said of the newly elected Canadian leader.

After the news conference, the McCartneys took a helicopter to ice floes near Iles-de-la-Madeleine about 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Prince Edward Island. They were photographed there with seal pups.

"We don't want to see the local people suffer," said Sir Paul. "But, from what we hear, it is quite a small amount of their annual revenue and this could be easily sorted out by the Canadian government, if they care to do it."

Heather McCartney (left) and Sir Paul McCartney observe a newborn whitecoat harp seal on Thursday. (Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd)

The McCartneys' visit to the seal nursery turns a spotlight on the work of The HSUS, its international arm Humane Society International, and the British campaign group Respect for Animals. These organizations and many others are campaigning to close global markets for seal products and to pressure the Canadian government to end the seal hunt for good.

"Canada is known as a great nation," Sir Paul said. "But this is something that leaves a stain on the character of the Canadian people and we don't think that's right. I don't think the vast amount of Canadians think that's right."

Last year, Sir Paul wrote an open letter to then Prime Minister Paul Martin, asking him to ban the hunt and saying that he might visit the seals in person if the hunt were not stopped.

"Heather and Paul McCartney are shining a bright light on the extraordinary spectacle of seal pups being born on the ice floes of Atlantic Canada, and they are signaling to the world that the impending commercial slaughter of these helpless creatures is an appalling and unconscionable act," said Neil Trent, executive director of The Humane Society International. "This hunt is doing incalculable damage to Canada's name and reputation."

The McCartneys, both vegans, are on the ice to dramatize their objections to the annual seal hunt. (Photo by Rolf Hicker Photography courtesy The HSUS)

Approximately two weeks later, in the last week of March, the hunt is likely to begin, although the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has not yet set a date or announced a quota for this year's hunt.

Mark Glover, director of the British charitable organization Respect for Animals, said Thursday, ‘I observed the seal hunt at close range last year, it was the most brutal sight I have ever seen, with conscious seals dragged across the ice with boathooks, wounded seals left to choke on their own blood, and seals being skinned alive. The commercial seal hunt is inherently cruel – it is a national disgrace."

During the last three years, the Canadian government has allowed more than 900,000 seals to be killed. Some 97 percent of the seals killed were less than three months of age, and the majority was less than one month old.

Longtime seal defender Captain Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society who has made many voyages to the hunting grounds to protest the hunt, said Thursday that the McCartneys are seeing thin ice conditions in the Gulf that are a result of climate change.

"Global warming is threatening the seals as the ice floes are becoming more diminished each year. This year is the worst year on record for ice conditions," said Watson, adding that the ice conditions are the reason the Canadian government has not yet set a quota for the Gulf of St. Lawrence nor set an opening day for the hunt.

“It is of course highly irresponsible for the DFO to open a hunt without taking into account the potential negative impact of the diminished ice conditions,” said Watson. “How can they set a quota on a population that will be savagely impacted by the lack of ice and when newborn mortality will be abnormally high? This department has demonstrated that they are the most incompetent, politically biased, and mismanaged bureaucracy in the Canadian government.”

Anti-seal hunt campaigner Rebecca Aldworth bears witness to the seal hunt in March 2005. (Photo courtesy IFAW)

The DFO says it has not subsidized the seal hunt since 2001. The agency says the hunt is an economically viable industry that made C$16 million last year in an area of the country where employment is scarce.

The DFO said it sets quotas "at levels that ensure the health and abundance of seal herds."

"Since the 1960s, environmental groups have been saying the seal hunt is unsustainable," said the DFO. "In fact, the harp seal population is healthy and abundant. According to a 2004 survey, the Northwest Atlantic harp seal population is now estimated at approximately 5.8 million animals, nearly triple what it was in the 1970s."

Other celebrities have publicized their opposition to the Canadian seal hunt by viewing the seal pups in their icy nurseries. Brigitte Bardot visited in 1977, Martin Sheen in 1995, and Richard Dean Anderson in 2005.