Over 338,000 harp, hooded and grey seals will be slaughtered this year per Canada's quota.
harp seal 7 by ~xXxWTFxXxBREAKING NEW UPDATE!
The first harp seal has been killed:
In the same week that Russia annouced an end to the hunting of seals under a year old, the Canadian goverment released today that they will allow for the slaughter of 280,000 harp seal pups this year.This is outrageous. This quota is completely indefensible. It’s not supported by markets, it’s not supported by the DFO’s own management plan, and it’s certainly not going to be supported by the majority of Canadians.
For the past two years we’ve seen saturated markets for seal fur, and pelt prices are now the lowest in recent memory. If this is a market-based hunt, as the government claims, the quota for this year should be zero.
The federal government’s determination to ignore reality on this issue is totally irrational. There are no markets for seal products, and with a potential European-wide ban on the horizon, no signs that the economic outlook is going to improve anytime soon. While our politicians trip over themselves to support commercial sealing, our taxes are being wasted on bailing out an anachronistic, dangerous, dead-end industry.
How ironic that two days after Russia announced an end to its commercial harp seal hunt, Canada is condemning one-third of the pups born here to a cruel and unnecessary death. Our government is insistent on keeping Canada stuck in the dark ages. Canadians would be much better served by a government that will stop playing politics, stop wasting our taxes, and start investing in alternative, economically viable employment opportunities.
Canada’s commercial seal hunt will be under intense scrutiny this year, as the European Union considers banning the trade in seal products.
You can help keep the pressure on the Canadian government by taking action now on www.stopthesealhunt.org
The 280K quota only includes harp seals and does not include many that are struck and lost like this one from last year's seal slaughter.
Animal-welfare group unable to observe start of Canadian seal hunt Fink explained that the sealers are very competitive, and basically race against each other. “This is one of the biggest problems with the hunt,” she said. “What we see is seals being stunned with a hakapick—bang bang bang. The first seal will start to regain consciousness because it wasn’t properly killed. It wasn’t properly checked for unconsciousness. It wasn’t properly bled out to make sure that it wasn’t going to come back to life.”
Here's the video:
TORONTO — Canada's annual seal hunt started Monday, under pressure from a possible European Union ban on imported seal products.
The world's largest marine mammal hunt was called "inherently inhumane" earlier this month by a European Parliament committee that endorsed the bill to ban the import of seal products to the 27-member union....
