Canadian Seal Hunt
Canada counts pelts from huge seal hunt Hunters get biggest quota ever: 350,000 pups The International Fund for Animal Welfare took this photo of a hunter on March 25, during the first of Canada's two seal hunts. The hunter uses what's called a hakapick to club the young seal in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 10:40 a.m. ET April 14, 2004
TORONTO - A day after tens of thousands of seal pups were hunted for their pelts, Canadian wildlife officials on Wednesday were counting to determine if hunters had reached their quota.
As Tuesday's hunt ended, activists called the hunt inhumane, with some seal pups being skinned alive.
The hunt — carried out with rifles and spears and reviled by animal rights activists — was held in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the coast of Quebec and in the frozen barrens of the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland.
Hunters were allowed to kill 350,000 young seals this year, the largest amount since the government instituted quotas in the 1960s. If that number wasn't reached Tuesday, the hunt will be extended for another 24 hours.
Wildlife officials said that the harp seal population is growing at 5.2 million and pelts are garnering record prices of about $50 each.
Steve Outhouse, a spokesman for Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said
wildlife officials were working with the seal hunters to determine the size of the hunt. It wasn’t clear when the count would be publicly announced.
Activists monitoring hunt
Chris Cutter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said about 10 protesters from his group, an organization founded to fight the seal hunt, turned up for the Gulf hunt. Outhouse said no animal rights activists attended the more isolated hunt off Newfoundland.
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.
In 1972, the United States passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act which bars the hunting of marine mammals, including seals, sea lions and polar bears.
Many countries, including the United States, still ban imports of seal products, but Canada supports the hunt to help its economically suffering coastal towns. The industry earned about $15 million last year, primarily from pelt sales to Norway, Denmark and China.
Outhouse said that “our position is based on science. Right now the harp seal population off Canada’s east coast is booming — 5.2 million as opposed to less than a third of that in the 1970s.”
“Most Canadians are okay with the hunt in principle," he added, "as long as it’s being done in a way that is sustainable and as humanely as possible.”
Smaller hunt last month
The first leg of this year’s hunt took place in the last week of March on the ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Quebec’s Magdalen Islands. Sealers there took an estimated 90,000 animals.
In both hunts, the seals are taken in the "whelping" areas where they born a few weeks earlier.
For many of the sealers, most of whom also fish for cod or crab, the seal hunt is the first seasonal income they will make this year, said Earl McCurdy, head of the union.
After rising international outrage over the hunt in the 1970s and 1980s forced the collapse of historic European markets for seal pelts, Canada passed legislation in 1987 that restricted the methods used to hunt seals.
Canada banned the killing of whitecoat seal pups younger than 12 days and limited sealers to the use of small boats rather than large commercial vessels.
As markets for seal skins and products slowly revived in eastern Europe and Asia, the hunt’s economic benefits were seen as an important way to replace income lost when the centuries old cod fishery collapsed in the early 1990s.
But animal rights groups say the cull of defenseless seal pups two weeks to three months old amounts to nothing less than a slaughter of the innocents. The seals are clubbed or shot to death on the ice floes where the mammals give birth and prepare to mate before heading to the Arctic.
“It’s a slaughter of one of the world’s greatest wildlife spectacles,” said IFAW’s Rebecca Aldworth. “The seal nursery is absolutely pristine and beautiful just days before the hunters come. And then, just days later, that peace on the ice is shattered by the hunters who club and shoot everything in sight.”
Canadian media tend to support hunt
Despite criticism from animal rights groups and intense scrutiny from international media, the seal hunt still has broad support in the Canadian press.
On Saturday, Montreal’s Gazette mockingly noted that “limousine liberals from Manhattan to Knightsbridge are fretting and signing petitions about the fate of the cute little seals off Canada’s east coast.”
The newspaper then offered a recipe for seal-flipper pie, a traditional Newfoundland dish.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.
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Stop de Canadese zeehondenjacht!
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's Werelds grootste jacht op zeezoogdieren zal deze week weer beginnen. Het IFAW zal aanwezig zijn op het ijs om deze jachtactiviteiten waar te nemen. Ervaar deze wrede jacht uit eerste hand met dagelijkse updates, foto's en video's van het IFAW-team ter plaatse en teken onze petitie om een halt te roepen aan deze gruwelijke en onnodige jacht.
Wrede en zinloze Canadese zeehondenjacht weer begonnen
Charlottetown - 25 maart 2004
Ondanks internationale afkeuring is gisteren op de ijsschotsen van oostelijk Canada de commerciële jacht op babyzeehonden weer in alle hevigheid begonnen. Het IFAW- Internationaal Dierenfonds is op het ijs aanwezig om de jachtactiviteiten waar te nemen en bewijsmateriaal van de misstanden vast te leggen.
De jacht, die voor een groot deel gesubsidieerd wordt door de Canadese overheid, zal zo’n 350.000 babyzeehonden over de komende weken doden, als onderdeel van een quotum dat het doden van 1 miljoen zeehonden in 3 jaar toelaat. Babyzeehonden mogen gedood worden op het moment dat zij hun donzige witte vacht verliezen, dan zijn zij slechts 12 dagen oud! 95% van de zeehonden die in de jacht op gruwelijke wijze gedood worden, zijn jonger dan drie maanden.
Pers vanuit de gehele wereld en ook uit Nederland is aanwezig om verslag te doen van deze zinloze jacht
IFAW-medewerkers documenteren dit jaar deze jacht zowel vanuit de lucht als op het ijs zelf. In alleen al de afgelopen vijf jaar is bewijsmateriaal verzameld van meer dan 660 mogelijke overtredingen van de Canadese wet ten aanzien van zeezoogdieren van het Departement van Visserij en Oceanen (DFO). Tot op heden is geen enkele van deze wrede en illegale praktijken onderzocht. De misstanden zoals het levend villen van de zeehonden, het laten doodbloeden en het ongecontroleerd en op foutieve wijze massaal knuppelen van de dieren zijn aan de orde van de dag.
Jagers zijn bij wet verplicht om een simpele test uit te voeren om vast te stellen of de zeehond dood is alvorens het dier te villen. IFAW-medewerkers hebben gedurende de jacht van 2003 geen enkele jager deze test zien uitvoeren. IFAW heeft deze informatie aan de DFO voorgedragen als bewijs van extreme wreedheden naar dieren toe en een grove overtreding van de eerder genoemde zeezoogdierenwet die de commerciële zeehondenjacht controleert. Afgelopen maand heeft een afgevaardigde van de Canadese overheid aan het IFAW laten weten dat zij geen aanklacht zullen indienen.
‘Het is duidelijk dat het Departement van Visserij en Oceanen zowel niet in staat als ongewillig is om hun eigen wetten na te leven’, aldus Marcel Bertsch, directeur van het Nederlandse IFAW kantoor. ‘ Toestaan dat de jagers die op de video betrapt zijn weer aan de jacht mee doen, is een officiële goedkeuring van de Canadese overheid van illegaal en wreed gedrag als deel van de commerciële zeehondenjacht’.
Red de zadelrobben
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The Canadian government has announced plans to expand the seal hunt and permit the deliberate culling of nearly one million seals over the next three years... the highest level of government-sanctioned cruelty to seals since the 1960s.
IFAW led the campaign to "Save the Seals" in the 1970's. Now we need your help to stop this latest attack on defenseless seal pups.
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Sealers testify!
The following is direct testimony from sealers, taken by Department of Fisheries and Oceans enforcement officers. It was obtained through Access to Information requests, and contains graphic descriptions of cruelty to animals.
Unbelievably, the Canadian government recently considered proposals to legalize the trade in hooded seal pups as young as five days of age. Given what happened the last time sealers went into the hooded seal nursery (see below), it is horrific that this proposal was even discussed.
Notes:
· When mothers are killed and their newborn pups abandoned on the ice, there is no chance of survival for the pup. In every case, the baby seal would have starved to death slowly.
· The use of 22 caliber rifles to shoot seals has been outlawed for humane reasons - the guns are not powerful enough to kill seals quickly.
"Prior to March 8/98 most females were killed with the pup inside them.
...I seen seven pups threw over the side after the female was pelted. I took two out myself. Me and another sealer even agreed that this was shocking and there should be another way to hunt seals. We were in the whelping on March 10/98 because I observed that eight of tens pans of ice had young pups with the after birth and other debris from the birth on the ice. There was once I can remember the young seal watching his parents being hoist aboard. He watched the boat as we steamed away. The pups were not killed but left by themselves on the ice."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, June 10/98
"I did see some mother seals killed and the pup fall out on deck still alive.
...(Name deleted) told me to throw it overboard and I did. It crawled up on a pan of ice. The mother was full of milk, the milk ran out on deck when the pup fell out."
Sealer's statement, taken by Cyril Furlong, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, June 24/98
"I was present when female Hood seals were pelted and did see pups fall out of the female on deck.
...I seen this happen twice and know that it happened eight to ten times during the first trip. I knew this happened because of conversations with the crew. The two pups that I saw on deck were alive. The pups were threw over board and on one occasion I did see one of these pups swimming in the water. I don't know what happened to the pups."
Sealer's statement, taken by Cyril Furlong, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, July 3/98, 15:33 hrs
"I seen a female being pelted and the pup came out of her when they cut her open, the pup was dead.
...This seal was killed for a while. This was on the day we got one hundred and seventy. Someone passed the comment, 'If Green peace were only here to see this.'"
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, June 22/98, 15:15 hrs
"We did take female Hoods and leave the pups on the ice.
...I was on deck when a pup fell out of a female Hood seals and I pelted the seal along with two other crewmembers. I can't recall who they were. The pup was alive when it fell out. I killed the pup and threw it over the side."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, July 6/98, 3:51 pm
"We were hunting for adult seals and on several times we took the old seals and left the pups on the ice.
...The Hood seals pupped while we were out there hunting. We did take seals before they had pups on one occasion. I did see a pup fall out on deck while the female was being pelted. This pup was alive and it was threw overboard. The pup was alive and swimming in the water. The pup crawled up on the ice."
Sealer's statement, taken by Cyril Furlong, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, July 6/98, 11:11 AM
"My job was pelting seals and using the gun. I was present when the female Hood was being pelted and young pup fell out of her onto the deck.
...This happened eight or ten times. There were lots of comments made for example, 'If we only had a video camera we would make a fortune' and 'We should never be allowed out killing them'"
"There were lots of times that the male and female were killed and taken on board and the pup left on the ice, sometimes the pup had blood on it as it was just born. We had approximately five hundred and fifty seals for the trip, approximately four hundred were hood seals of which at least one hundred and fifty were females."
"The seals were always in a net bag in the speed boat, when they were hoist on board there were numerous 22 caliber rifle casings among the seals. They were often kicking around the deck of the longliner, I seen the observer Rex Hodder pick them up and throw them over aboard. He had to know that the 22 guns were being used. They even make a different sound to the heavier gun. There was an effort to hide these guns from Rex Hodder. They were passed down through the vents in the engine room. They were kept in cases while in the two speedboats. We landed something over three thousand seals fro the trip. We got in somewhere around the 21st of April, 1998. I don't think that the 22-caliber rifle is powerful enough to kill even a beater seal. I often seen seals alive after we hoist the seals them out of the speedboats. We would finish them off with a hakapik."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, June 24/98, 19:40 hrs
"All the females we took, the pups were left on the ice.
...The pup was left on the ice after the female was killed and taken on board."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, July 14/98
"Sometimes he told me to kill the male and female and sometimes to kill the male only. The pup was always left.
...It seemed he told me to kill everything when seals were scarce. Sometimes the seals were not that old because there was blood where they were born."
"At the end of the day everyone would lend a hand pelting seals. There were two or three cut out of the female while she was being pelted, they were killed and threw over aboard. There was a lot of talk as to weather this was right or a good thing to be doing. Everyone was aware of it."
"The best day we done, we took approximately one hundred and eighty. We were taking male and females that day and this was towards the end of the trip. There were a lot of pups around and they were all left on the ice. The following day we killed some females that were accompanied by the male and pup."
"The four of us were present when the pups were cut out of the female, (deleted) were aware of this also. We had approximately eight hundred seals for the trip and about one quarter or better would be females."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, July 10/98, 19:15 hrs
"During the second trip we left fifteen or twenty pups alone after taking the family.
...There were mistakes made by killing pregnant female hoods, this happened approximately six times but they never came out on deck. I am an experienced sealer so I knew they were pregnant. We were not saving the meat so the pup went over aboard with the carcass."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, August 11/98, 16:50 hrs
"There were a few occasions when we took the make and female Hood seals and left the pup on the ice.
...I observed on two occasions for the trip pups falling out of the female while being pelted on deck. The two pups I observed were alive and were thrown over the side. I seen these pups crawl up on the ice after we threw them over aboard."
"I probably killed three to four hundred seals with the 22 caliber rifle…There was conversations between the skipper and myself and the crew to make an effort to hide the 22 rifles from the observer."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, June 29/98, 10:45 hrs
"After the females were pelted and pups fell out onto the deck the pups were thrown over the side.
...I did see a couple move around in the water behind the boat. They appeared to be alive and swimming. We watched a seal that came out of the old one on deck try to get up on a pan of ice. It did not get up to my knowledge. This did bother me to see seals flapping around in the water and trying to get up on the ice."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, June 28/98, 16:30 hrs
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Nieuwe site stopdeknuppels.nl on-line!
Neem een kijkje op onze speciale website tegen de zeehondenjacht. Ga naar www.stopdeknuppels.nl en speel de Seal Hunt game, kom in actie, volg het laatste nieuws over de jacht en lees Jo's weblog. Voor de kinderen is er een kleurwedstrijd waarmee leuke prijzen te winnen zijn!
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Fotoverslag World Action Day
Bont voor Dieren voerde op 15 maart actie bij de Canadese ambassade in Den Haag. Op die dag werd in 26 landen tegelijk actie gevoerd tegen de Canadese zeehondenjacht. Klik hier voor een fotoreportage van de actie.
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Bont voor Dieren: huntwatch met Krista van Velzen
Op 29 maart start de jacht en zullen binnen enkele dagen 320.000 jonge zeehonden worden gedood. Voor het eerst gaat Bont voor Dieren zelf als waarnemer (huntwatch) naar Canada. Op onze uitnodiging gaat Tweede-Kamerlid Krista van Velzen (SP) mee. Zij is erg betrokken bij de zeehonden en deed ook mee aan de protestactie op 15 maart. Als politica kan en zal zij aandacht in de Tweede Kamer blijven vragen voor de Canadese zeehonden. Bont voor Dieren expeditieleidster dr. Joanna Swabe zal dagelijks in haar weblog verslag doen van de expeditie.
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95% Nederlanders vindt zeehondenjacht onacceptabel
Bont voor Dieren heeft een opinieonderzoek laten uitvoeren door TNS NIPO. Maar liefst 95% van de Nederlanders vindt de commerciële Canadese zeehondenjacht onacceptabel. De roep om een Nederlands import- en handelsverbod van alle zeehondenbont en zeehondenproducten is groot. 92% Van de Nederlanders is van mening dat minister Bot van buitenlandse zaken een nationaal import- en handelsverbod van alle zeehondenbont en zeehondenproducten moet instellen. Daarnaast wil een overgrote meerderheid van de Nederlandse bevolking (92%) dat Nederland zich binnen de Europese Unie gaat inspannen voor een Europees import- en handelsverbod van alle zeehondenbont en zeehondenproducten.
