Photos: 2013 Canadian seal hunt bloodies the ice off Newfoundland (warning: graphic images)

Some hunters you take picture of think they are good pics and are interested to buy them. Any contact?

so is it any different then killing chickens if you have to many chickens you make chicken soup

Animal 'right's' groups= 60,000 out of an estimated 20 million seals[ who each devour aprox. 45 lbs of cod bellies each day] does not a slaughter make, but blood on the ice does make a shocking visual.If you like to see/show blood,and clearly you do, and if you give a damm about animal killing then why aren't you at some of the large abattoirs where untold millions of animals are slaughtered each year,and kept in horrible conditions prior to slaughter? I guess pigs, chickens and cows won't fill your coffers and keep you employed like the mis-represented,easy to target,openly visual seal hunt. You are nothing more than self-promoting bullies.I feel sorry for the poor mis-informed lemmings that are your supporters,they think they are doing something great,but are being lied to and manipulated.I have no ties to the seal hunt, and I seldom eat meat,but wild,free range,organic nutritious,renewable, seal meat would be a welcome addition to any diet.

"Harvests" are up (according to sealers) solely because for the second year in a row the Newfoundland government offered a $3.6M "loan" to a seal processor to buy the pelts and stockpile them in case markets crop up in the future. Although the "harvest" numbers are up, the markets are down (read: non-existent) and the government had to pay someone to buy and stockpile the seal products. A Canadian seal processor admitted to media last year that hundreds of thousands of seal skins are already stockpiled in storage because there are no markets.

The Canadian government claims seal management is science-based with a precautionary approach, yet it opened this year's seal hunt with no Total Allowable Catch. The seal hunt had been ongoing for a week and the government had still set no kill limits. Last year the Canadian government ignored the advice of its own scientists and set a Total Allowable Catch of 400,000 - 100,000 OVER what its own scientists had advised, stating it set the quota higher at the request of sealing industry representatives. I see again a quota of 400,000 has reportedly been set again. This is hardly "science-based" with a "precautionary approach".

Humane Society International representatives reported on the first day of the slaughter thi syear there was absolutely no monitoring by DFO of the killing. Additionally, they have been reporting extreme animal cruelty and numerous violations by sealers resulting in serious animal welfare concerns. Again, government's claims of a "human", "monitored" and "regulated" seal hunt are easily shown to be bogus.

Ottawa's claims that fishermen rely on the seal hunt for their income are false. Sealing is an off-season activity for these fishermen who make the bulk of their earnings fishing for other species at other times of the year. They make very little money from killing seals. In past years, the sealing industry has seen a drop in profits by 90%. A sealing licence buyout would generate more income for sealers than participating in the commercial seal hunt. Canadians do not want their tax dollars wasted on this cruel and wasteful industry and would rather see their taxes used in a buyout which would include the abolition of the commercial seal hunt and monetary compensation to assist sealers in transitioning out of it.

MA Dohey:
Thanks for your comment. Many scientists think that cod have not recovered because of Fisheries and Oceans Canada allowing "limited fisheries" of cod for many years when there should have been a shutdown of the industry for at least a generation. Many of these same scientists are not allowed to publicly speak their minds today.
I feel I must point out, as well, that your figure for the amount of cod eaten by "seals" (without referencing a species) is speculative. FOC's own research estimates that cod could make up as little as 10 percent of an adult grey seal's diet, depending on the location, season, and availability of prey. As well, seals eat many species of fish that predate on cod.
It's all part of the balance of the North Atlantic Ocean ecosystem, which, incidentally, saw cod and seals getting along "swimmingly" before people showed up.

it is interesting to note that countries that have banned Canadian Harp Seals are currently calling for a cull of their own problem gray seal populations. While THEIR overpopulation problem with seals is at 30 000 and our population is estimated at 7-9 MILLION...... A cull would mean a bunch of wasted meat and skins, at least with our cull/hunt, we use what we can of the meat, oil and skin rather than just killing the animals to control the population. They want to cull some of their 30000 but condemn us for trying to control an population explosion of MILLIONS!

To the
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
The Hon. Keith Ashfield

Dear Minister,
Inspite of massive international protests over at least the last decade and consequently closed markets for seal products your country still supports the commercial seal hunt . You use your taxpayers`money to subsidize a dying industry with several million dollars.
The commercial seal hunt is nothing but an unnecessary massacre of defenseless baby seals. It is high time for your government to end it for good and support a buyout of sealing licences - thus providing alternatives for the sealers and helping them to build up sustainable businesses. Investing in stockpiling of hundreds of thousands of seal pelts that nobody wants does not show political capability and visions.
The commercial seal hunt is a shame for your country that likes to pride herself as being one of nature`s last paradises in the world. The seal hunt is a crime against nature.
We live in the year 2013 and not in the 18th century.
We Europeans don`t want seal pelts. We don`t want seals`heart valves which a mysterious and non-existent Greek professor praised to the skies. We get our Omega-3 from salmon, olive-and rape-oil.
So save your 7.5 million Euro and stop filing an objection at the WTO against our import ban on seal products.
Stop the commercial seal slaughter and my family and I will be happy to spend our holidays in your country.

With kind regards
Dr. Astrid Kammerer-Höfer
Kandelstr. 18
79194 Gundelfingen, Germany

CC: The Right Hon. Stephen Harper, all Members of Parliament, and Senators

It's Canada's government that lied and said its the seals fault for the depletion of Cod . They use there own scientists to come up with these " reasons " to kill 14 day old seals , for pelts not food , except maybe a bowl of fin soup . If you want to sell the pelts so bad , just show the world where they come from and how . How humane the hunt really is .... Right ? Don't throw dirt , he who throw dirt first loses ground . Guess in your case it may be snow .

Tragic how barbaric evil and greed can turn innocence and beauty into a bloody heartbreaking nightmare. SHAME ON CANADA! Though told by scientists for many years that only over fishing by humans is the cause of depleted fishing stock and that in fact the seal are beneficial because they eat the fish that eat the fish that humans want to fish. Canada wastes the taxes of her public on a bloodbath of babies that the vast majority are against. Canada has been told to turn to Eco-tourism instead (like they did with South African seal)that way the seal are saved, the once seasonal murderers can make money year round via protecting life and sharing the beauty of Canada.

There is so much misinformation being thrown around regarding the seal hunt each year that it is nauseating. Animal rights groups have nothing better to do than ruin a way of life, and despite other comments here, an income that fishermen rely on each year. They don't go to the ice and risk their lives each year for the sheer joy of killing. They do it so that their families can have a nice home, their kids can go to college or university and that they can have a comfortable life. Last time I checked, that was a constitutional right. It isn't greed, it isn't barbaric. It is an annual cull, and anyone who is halfway informed with facts, rather than the rhetoric that is vomited out of the mouths of these animal rights groups, would know that it is an industry that is sustaining itself. Although in the past few years, the rhetoric and twisting of truth has succeeded in the banning of seal products in many countries, we are still sustaining ourselves. There is a big difference in an industry being subsidized and a government loaning a processing plant a few million dollars which was paid back in full with interest just months later. And the so called stockpiling of seal pelts is another half truth. There was a stockpile at the end of the hunt last year. However, there is none now, as they have been used to make many different products. I can appreciate the fact that the contrast of white snow/ice and bright red blood is shocking to many people, but obviously, unlike the many abbotoirs and slaughterhouses out there, it's kind of difficult to conduct a seal cull inside where nobody can see. So the animal rights groups can spend their thousands of dollars on helicopter flights and take pictures of the hunt and then rush back and tell lies and half truths to the media and public. These men and women are continuing a tradition, a way of life that spans more than 100 years, and they are making a living doing it. Obviously, I support them. All I ask, is that people hear both sides of the story before condemning Canada, Newfoundland, and these brave men and women for trying to make a living. I know many of the facts have been twisted and portrayed improperly and I know sealers and their families personally. It hits home when I see a way of life being ruined by someone who doesn't know the whole story.