The Cruel Seal Hunt Continues

To the Editor:

As I write this I am saddened to say the Canadian seal hunt has officially started. I had thought this horrible and inhumane hunt had been banned by civilized countries. I was shocked to find out that it is still ongoing and even a growing industry. I am not a fanatic about animal rights but I do respect any form of life and believe there are humane ways of doing things.

These are the facts, as I know them: It is the harp seal that is mostly hunted for its fur and penis. A Norwegian company helps to sponsor the hunt and buys about 80 percent of the fur while Asian markets are interested in the penises. Seal meat is not readily wanted so it is left to rot on the ice. Fishermen from the Canadian East Coast conduct the hunt, which is sponsored by the Canadian government. They use a tool called a kakapiks (a large ice-pick club) and guns. Guns are not preferred since the price of the pelt will lose value with each bullet hole.

In the past five years 95 percent of the seals killed have been harp seal pups 12 days to 12 weeks old. Some are shot from boats and left to suffer until the sealers come back to finish them off. While others trying to get away fall off the ice floe into the water to slowly die, some have not yet learned how to swim. The sealers “humanely” drag conscious seals across the ice floes with fishhooks then stack dead and dying animals in a pile.

The Canadian government monitors the hunt and says it is done in a humane fashion. Video footage from the Humane Society of the United States and eyewitness accounts has proven otherwise. Parliamentarians, journalists, and scientists who observe the Canadian hunt continue to report unacceptable cruelty. Veterinarians who studied the hunt found that 42 percent of the animals had been skinned alive.

Most of the sealers come from Newfoundland. Economically the seal hunt helps with about 1/20th of a fisherman’s income and helps with about one percent for the province. The government tries to justify the seal hunt by saying the harp seals eat too much of the cod the fishermen are trying to catch. This has been scientifically proven to be in question. The Canadians’ own study did not prove what they were trying to confirm. There are many factors for the depletion of cod including overfishing which neither the government nor the fishermen take responsibility for. The Canadian government could easily choose to replace the seal hunt with an economic alternative.

Last year 365,971 seals were killed. The ones that fell through the ice crevasses or tried to swim away were not counted. The last time this many seals were killed was in the 50s and 60s. Close to two thirds of the harp seal population was wiped out.

If you are like me and want to help stop this barbaric and cruel hunt you can boycott Canadian seafood. Contact your Senator and ask him or her to cosponsor Senator Carl Levin’s (D-MI) senate resolution 33 condemning Canada’s seal hunt. Write or email The Canadian Ambassador to the United States: His Excellency, Michael Kergin, 501 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001. Email address is webmaster@canadianembassy.org. The Prime Minister’s Office, Right Honorable Paul Martin, Office of the Prime Minister, 80 Wellington Street Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A0A2. Email is pm@pm.gc.ca. You can check on the web at www.protectseals.org/ or click “Marine Mammals” on the Humane Society of the United States website.

With Much Hope,

Lynn Printy

Hanover Road, Newtown                                             March 29, 2005