Canadian Seal Cull Started

Canadian Seal Cull Started



On March 25th the mindless slaughter of up to 325,000 seals in the name of ‘commerce’ in Canada began.

Despite massive efforts on the part of tireless campaigners to put a stop to the cruel bludgeoning to death of these animals the Canadian authorities sanctioned the mass slaughter.



The Bill Jordan Foundation is working closely with Mark Glover from respect for animals, he was in Canada for the start of the slaughter, this is what he reported.

“At 6am Saturday morning, the official start of the hunt, we set off in a small boat with two inflatables. Boats carrying the sealers were already panning out searching for seals.
The sealers were clubbing and shooting the seal pups now; if they could get out onto the thinning ice they would club the pups over the head; or they would shoot at them from the boat, hook the body and drag it onboard. I have seen several seals being shot and left on the ice to die; I’ve seen a sealer take three shots at a seal, then just move on.
We were in our small inflatable boats, and at one point a sealer flung seal intestines towards us, they hit the boat and sunk away into the icy water. Then another boat swerved towards us, the sealers swearing at us.
I saw a sealer shoot at a seal from his boat, then another sealer scrambled onto the tiny ice pan, bring down his hakapik, a wooden club with metal hook attached, on the seal pups head, hook it and drag it back to the boat. They were skinning seals on the boats, or sometimes on the ice itself. Then the carcasses were either left on the ice, or just floating in the water. It was gruesome.



The sealers kept moving on, from one ice pan to the next, and the process started all over again – all that was left on the ice was a splattering of blood.
It’s just horrific, there’s blood all across the ice; carcasses of newly skinned seals just left floating in the water. And the seals are so helpless, they are no more than about a month old; as they can’t swim yet they can’t get away from their killers, there is no where to go for them; they are sitting targets; it’s bloody carnage.
‘The hunt is inhumane and cruel. Veterinary studies have shown that humane killing guidelines are not enforced and in many cases seals are skinned while conscious. Each year, parliamentarians, journalists and animal welfare observers report incredible cruelty at the hunt, including dragging conscious seals across the ice with boathooks, shooting seals and leaving them to suffer in agony and skinning seals alive.

‘Today’s killing levels meet and even exceed those of the 1950’s and 60’s, when close to two–thirds of the harp seal population was wiped out. Harp seals now face a double threat to their survival – the impacts of climate change and historic high levels of commercial hunting”

Animal advocate organizations In the UK are calling upon the UK government to ban the import of all seal products into the UK. To date 188 Members of Parliament have signed an Early Day Motion (number 237) in support of an import ban. A recent opinion poll showed that 73% of UK residents think there should be a ban on the import of seal products into Britain. 79% believe that the annual Canadian seal hunt should be stopped.
The Bill Jordan Foundation is working with a powerful alliance of animal welfare groups across the country asking concerned individuals to pledge not to buy Canadian fish and seafood products until the hunt is banned.

However it is not just the UK who needs to act, the seals need global support if they are to avoid being culled year after year.



Paul McCartney and Heather McCartney, who were at the ice floes before the hunt began to protest stated

“When countries[such as Greenland, Mexico and Italy] stop buying sealskins, there will be no reason for sealers to kill the seals,’ said Heather McCartney. ‘We are asking every single country to please, please stop buying seal products so this hunt will stop.’
Paul McCartney offered an alternative to the hunt—“We’re proposing a fair solution to all of this—a sealing license buy–back plan. This is a win–win solution: fishermen would be compensated for any lost revenue when the hunt is closed, and Canada would have a graceful way to put an end to a cruel and needless practice that should have been stopped many years ago.”
Mark Glover, Director, Respect for Animals and Humane Society International (UK) added: “Heather and Paul McCartney noted in their statement that a global boycott of Canadian seafood products has already cost Canada many times the value of the seal hunt. Clearly, the Canadian government and fishing industry have an economic choice to make.”
The boycott of Canadian fish and seafood products, which has been very successful in the United States, is now growing in the UK.

A growing list of celebrities are campaigning to put a stop to the annual cull:











More information is available at: www.boycott-canada.com website.