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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040412/ap_on_re_ca/canada_seal_hunt
Canada Begins World's Largest Seal Hunt
By BARRY BROWN, Associated Press Writer
TORONTO - Some 12,000 sealers armed with rifles and spears headed for the ice floes and islands off eastern Canada on Monday in the world's largest seal hunt, followed by protesters condemning the $20 million harvest as barbaric.
Hunters are allowed to kill 350,000 young seals this year, the largest amount since the government instituted quotas in the 1960s. The harp seal population is growing at 5.2 million and pelts are garnering record prices of about $50 each.
"I believe this hunt is inherently cruel and the regulations to protect the seals are woefully inadequate," said Rebecca Aldworth of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which will monitor the cull.
The hunt off the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador received international attention beginning in the '60s, and bloody television images of baby harp seals being clubbed to death led to bans on white seal fur and boycotts of Canadian fish products in many European markets.
Since then, the Canadian government has tried to ease protesters' concerns by banning the killing of seal pups under 12 days old — when their fur changes from white to gray — and implementing regulations designed to make the hunt more humane.
Many countries, including the United States, still ban imports of seal products, but the Ottawa government has supported the hunt to help Canada's economically suffering coastal towns. The industry earned about $15 million last year, primarily from pelt sales to Norway, Denmark and China.
Earlier this year, the Humane Society of the United States took out full-page newspaper ads urging Americans to cancel trips to Canada and boycott Canadian products.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., introduced a resolution condemning the hunt, and some of those attending the Sundance Film Festival (news - web sites) in Utah earlier this year wore T-shirts reading: "Club Sandwiches, Not Seals."
However, some of the major activist groups that targeted sealing in the past said they have more pressing issues to address this year.
Andrew Male of Greenpeace Canada said the organization was "not actively campaigning" against the hunt, instead focusing on issues such as genetically modified foods and climate change.
Despite its newspaper ad, the Humane Society does not oppose the hunt itself, only some of the methods used by sealers, spokesman Nicholas Braden said.
Although most seals are shot instead of clubbed, many wounded animals are left to drown, he said. Also, an organization study found that 40 percent of the seals killed were still alive while being skinned, despite rules designed to prevent this, he said.
Aldworth said hunting guidelines have been routinely ignored during her five years of monitoring the hunt, and her group has documented nearly 700 violations of hunting regulations since 1998.
She said she has seen "seals whimpering in agony after being clubbed, and even though we begged the sealers to finish them off, they refused."
But Steve Outhouse, a spokesman for Canada's Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans, disputed those accusations. A Canadian Veterinary Medical Association study found that 98 percent of the seals were killed "in a medically humane manner with the minimum of pain," he said Monday.
Also, the Canadian government has filed charges of illegal hunting more than 100 times during the past five years, Outhouse said.
Canada Begins World's Largest Seal Hunt
By BARRY BROWN, Associated Press Writer
TORONTO - Some 12,000 sealers armed with rifles and spears headed for the ice floes and islands off eastern Canada on Monday in the world's largest seal hunt, followed by protesters condemning the $20 million harvest as barbaric.
Hunters are allowed to kill 350,000 young seals this year, the largest amount since the government instituted quotas in the 1960s. The harp seal population is growing at 5.2 million and pelts are garnering record prices of about $50 each.
"I believe this hunt is inherently cruel and the regulations to protect the seals are woefully inadequate," said Rebecca Aldworth of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which will monitor the cull.
The hunt off the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador received international attention beginning in the '60s, and bloody television images of baby harp seals being clubbed to death led to bans on white seal fur and boycotts of Canadian fish products in many European markets.
Since then, the Canadian government has tried to ease protesters' concerns by banning the killing of seal pups under 12 days old — when their fur changes from white to gray — and implementing regulations designed to make the hunt more humane.
Many countries, including the United States, still ban imports of seal products, but the Ottawa government has supported the hunt to help Canada's economically suffering coastal towns. The industry earned about $15 million last year, primarily from pelt sales to Norway, Denmark and China.
Earlier this year, the Humane Society of the United States took out full-page newspaper ads urging Americans to cancel trips to Canada and boycott Canadian products.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., introduced a resolution condemning the hunt, and some of those attending the Sundance Film Festival (news - web sites) in Utah earlier this year wore T-shirts reading: "Club Sandwiches, Not Seals."
However, some of the major activist groups that targeted sealing in the past said they have more pressing issues to address this year.
Andrew Male of Greenpeace Canada said the organization was "not actively campaigning" against the hunt, instead focusing on issues such as genetically modified foods and climate change.
Despite its newspaper ad, the Humane Society does not oppose the hunt itself, only some of the methods used by sealers, spokesman Nicholas Braden said.
Although most seals are shot instead of clubbed, many wounded animals are left to drown, he said. Also, an organization study found that 40 percent of the seals killed were still alive while being skinned, despite rules designed to prevent this, he said.
Aldworth said hunting guidelines have been routinely ignored during her five years of monitoring the hunt, and her group has documented nearly 700 violations of hunting regulations since 1998.
She said she has seen "seals whimpering in agony after being clubbed, and even though we begged the sealers to finish them off, they refused."
But Steve Outhouse, a spokesman for Canada's Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans, disputed those accusations. A Canadian Veterinary Medical Association study found that 98 percent of the seals were killed "in a medically humane manner with the minimum of pain," he said Monday.
Also, the Canadian government has filed charges of illegal hunting more than 100 times during the past five years, Outhouse said.
