Baby seals drown from melting ice as Canada hunt begins

Drown and Out

Pop an antidepressant before reading this: Canada has reduced this year's quota for its annual harp seal hunt by 20 percent, to a mere 270,000 -- not because of pressure from conservationists and animal activists, but because thousands of baby seals have already fallen through melting ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and drowned. Global warming strikes again! In some areas, the pup mortality rate may be reaching 100 percent -- before the hunters even arrive. "The pups can't swim for very long. They need stable ice," says a Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesperson. Only two (out of about 40) hunting boats set sail into the southern gulf at the start of hunting season on Monday. "There weren't many seals there to hunt," says the spokesperson. The baby seals are clubbed or shot, then sold for their prized white fur and seal oil. One Newfoundlander says the locals "need the seal hunt to make ends meet." Activists say the hunters often flout the government quota, and are demanding that Canada terminate a hunt they call cruel.

straight to the source: The Washington Post, Doug Struck, 04 Apr 2007

straight to the source: The Independent, David Usborne, 02 Apr 2007

straight to the source: The Age, Associated Press, 04 Apr 2007

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Comments: (7 comments)

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Get your facts straight

It has been illegal for some time to harvest the white fur pup seals. In reading the three referenced articles there is no reference to white fur pups. Please get your facts straight, it only damages your credibility when you don't. The mis-information surrounding this hunt has been rampant for years and is only tolerated because of mis-leading images of cute white seal pups. There are lots of ugly animals out there that really need our attention. Sharks, cod and tuna just to name a few. How cruel is bottom dragging or nylon nets that float in the ocean for years catching fish and sea life and slowly starving or suffocating them. Oh I forgot, fish don't have feelings.

Below is a link to a Canadian government web site regarding the seal hunt.

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/seal-phoque/myth_e.htm

Rob McC

by robrmcc at 11:28 AM on 04 Apr 2007

Bambi syndrome

Rob makes a good point. Seals are killed just as humanely than any other wild harvest animals.
The seal hunt is also probably the most studied and most effectively managed hunts in the world, evidenced by the fact that populations have been brought back from a level considered too low (1.8 million in the 70s) to 5.5 million, and have been kept reasonably stable at that level by design. It is ecologically sound and sustainable.

Nat

Bikes can save us!!

by GoodCheer at 12:46 PM on 04 Apr 2007

Global warming link

Also, hanging Canada for not screaming about global warming is silly. The Canadian gov. was 'officially' concerned about global warming several years ago. The only statement quoted on the subject:

"We don't know if it's weather or climate. But we have seen a trend in the ice conditions in the last four or five years," said Phil Jenkins(...)

is cautious rather than in denial, wouldn't you say?

cheers
Nat

Bikes can save us!!

by GoodCheer at 12:52 PM on 04 Apr 2007

Somebody's credibility needs a band-aid, STAT!

It's pretty ironic, Rob, that you don't think Grist has their facts straight when it's actually you who is off in what you are saying. While in theory it is illegal to kill white coats this does not mean that all of the seal pups who are killed have molted their entire white coat. In fact, seal pups can legally be killed as soon as they have begun to molt their white fur which is at about 12 days old, and, in previous "hunts" the majority of seals killed were less than two months old. So, to imagine what a seal pup who's molting its coat looks like, picture a sesame seed bun on any given Monday. Now, by Thursday, a few of the seeds might have fallen off. The bun is now three days older and has a small bare patch from the fallen seeds but is still a sesame seed bun, is it not? My point is that while you cannot legally kill let's say a seal who is 9 days old you can legally kill a seal who is roughly 12 days old. Do those 3 days make much of a difference? No, they don't. And, whether the seal is a baby or an adult, does it really matter? No, it doesn't. Let's not let the seal "hunt" debate get tripped up by the age of the seal because that is somewhat irrelevant. Bottom line is that seals are killed for no good reason. I have yet to find a bona fide reason for why --instead of just another feckless attempt to justify-- the commercial seal "hunt" is necessary. Nat, if you think seals are killed just as humanely as "any other wild harvest animals," then you either would agree with me that other animals are also killed in a terribly inhumane way or you have not actually witnessed the seals being slaughtered (which is what the "hunt" truly is). Some of the seals are not instantly killed and are left to die by slowly choking on their own blood or worse yet, by being skinned alive (there exists irrefutable evidence to prove this). Nat, if you don't consider that inhumane, I don't know what is. Regardless of whether the "hunt" is ecologically sound or sustainable (and I don't believe it's either), my question is why kill seals at all? Grist reports that one Newfoundlander said the locals "need the seal hunt to make ends meet." This is not true. Income is always one of the reasons used by sealers and locals to condone the "hunt." They argue it brings in much-needed monies to them during the off-season ($16M to be exact), yet, when offered more lucrative alternatives (such as a factory to produce synthetic furs or an actual hand-out, which would be on an annual basis), they squawk at the idea. Last year, Cathy Kangas, the CEO of PRAI Beauty, offered the Canadian Government $16 million dollars to compensate the sealers to not kill seals. So, how can it then be about the money? I have and will continue to boycott everything having to do with Canada until the seal slaughter is officially ended. Oh, and, Rob, thanks for shedding light on the fact that there are other species who also need our help. I couldn't agree more! Now run along and get a band-aid for your boo boo. Maybe one of the sealers can set down their bloody hakapik to blow on it for you.

by GoVegan at 8:46 AM on 05 Apr 2007

Nope. Sorry

Sorry Nat: This is 100% not the case. "Seals are killed just as humanely than any other wild harvest animals."

These are mammals, killed by the hundreds of thousands each year for their fur. For fashion. In the most cruel way (clubbed with a hakipik (a hooked club) - or shot (which also means wounded and lost in the water). It is a difficult hunt to document completely because of the remote areas where the hunt occurs. Also, the Deparment of Fisheries of Ocean is not a unbiased source of information on the commerical seal hunt, given it has the conflicting mandate of promoting and expanding the sealing industry in addition to management of the seal populations. Before it came to light this last week that hundreds of thousands of seal pups already died in the Gulf of St. Lawerence this year, Kevin Singer of the Fisheries agency said "the seal herd is and remains healthy and abundant."

Girl on Foot: A regular gal soul-searching the modern day car-free commute.

by girlonfoot at 10:40 AM on 05 Apr 2007
[ Parent ]

seals

I think that these seal clubbers are a bunch of sadists. There is no reason whatsoever they couldn't pick up a drowned seal and turn it in. They have to kill the seal themselves, or they can't get it up

by dbeerslayer at 9:58 PM on 10 Apr 2007
[ Parent ]

They're still "pups" by any standard

Yes, we all know that "whitecoat" seals can't be killed, as the Canadian government keeps on pointing this out to any one that will listen. Which I find ironic, given how hard the Canadian government and the fur industry fought in the 1980s against the ban on the importation of fur from "whitecoat" harp seals in Europe. Canada only banned killing "whitecoats" because the market collapsed in Europe. Now they act so proud of it.

But now they allow a seal to be killed once it starts shedding even a little bit of white fur. If you view the 2007 footage of the slaughter on the website of Humane Society International-Canada, you'll see that "ragged jackets" (seals just beginning to shed their white fur) are being killed. The vast majority of the pups being killed, whether "ragged jackets" or "beaters" (seal pups that have lost all of their white fur), have not yet had their first solid meal or taken their first swim-and they literally have no escape from the hunters. So this is definitely not a "fair chase" hunt. Well over ninety-five percent of the seals killed are under three months of age. For an animal who may live more than 35 years, and doesn't reach sexual maturity until about 5 years old, these are "babies" or "pups" by any standard.

Many scientists agree current kill levels are not sustainable. A 2006 study by Professor Stephen Harris from the School of Biological Sciences at Bristol University asserts that "the Canadian management regime for harp seals does not apply a precautionary principle and threatens the survival of seal populations."

While awareness of what really happens at the seal hunt is increasing in the U.S., Europe and around the world, unfortunately in Canada, the media (which is often government-subsidized, like the CBC) gives a "sanitized" version of the annual harp seal slaughter. Though international journalists, independent veterinarians, European parliamentarians, and observers from animal protection organizations routinely witness and document seals left to suffocate in their own blood, conscious seal pups dragged across the ice floes with boat hooks, and conscious seals reacting in pain as they are skinned alive, the Canadian media rarely airs or prints any of this footage. Thus, many Canadians do not even realize how cruel, and unsustainable, this tax-payer subsidized seal slaughter truly is. And they don't often realize how poorly the Canadian goverment regulates the slaughter. This type of behavior from the Canadian media is disappointing from a nation that prides itself on being so much more open, fair, and compassionate than other nations.

by amc89 at 8:53 AM on 12 Apr 2007

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