Login / RegisterSheryl Fink: Canadians must speak out on commercial seal hunt in federal election
Each spring for the last 10 years, I have been on the East Coast to document the commercial seal hunt. Each year, I must steel myself against the government misinformation, the false accusations against IFAW, and of course the horrors that we will face. And each year, just when I think I’ve seen it all, another example of callous cruelty-for-profit shows its hideous face.
As I write this, I am in Newfoundland and Labrador documenting the commercial seal hunt once again. Although the hunt is relatively small in scale this year, the cruelty that we are capturing is some of the worst in memory. Reviewing the day’s footage, we watch sealers as they flagrantly ignore the regulations time after time, in full view of our cameras.
A pair of sealers pose for a photo with a young pup, then pick it up by the hind flippers and hurl it onto an adjacent ice pan. A pup is shot but not killed. Bleeding profusely, it struggles and shudders on the ice pan, flippers clenched in pain until it is finally hooked, dragged on board, and killed. Another pup, its belly already slit open, reaches up from the bottom of a skiff and waves a paw with deliberate movement, a gesture of consciousness ignored by the sealer as he throws other carcasses on top. A sealer reaches down from the boat deck and drives a steel hook through the eye of a live pup as it tries helplessly to defend itself by biting at the hook.
As I watch this footage, the voices of our political leaders burn in my ears. “The seal hunt is humane,” they say. “It is well regulated.” “It is economically important.”
I know these are all lies. Our observations attest to the cruelty that is inherent in this hunt. We see no monitoring or enforcement of the regulations—inadequate as they are. And with pelt prices hovering at around $20 a skin, and mounting evidence that sealing now requires more in subsidies than it actually brings in, the economic justification for this slaughter is nonexistent. There can be no more excuses.
This year, the commercial harp seal hunt falls in the midst of a federal election. Now, more than ever, we need Canadians to speak out against this slaughter. It is cruel, it is unnecessary, it tarnishes this country’s reputation internationally, and it only survives because it is being propped up and supported by Canadian taxpayer dollars. Canadians can no longer afford to stay quiet. We need to let our political candidates know that we want the seal hunt to end. We need to elect leaders who are both courageous and compassionate. We need to build a Canada that is better for both animals and people.
Sheryl Fink is the director of the seal program at the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Of course it's not waving for help!! Geez! But when we observe the hunt we do try to distinguish between coordinated, conscious movements - like those of the foreflippers - and other movements that are fairly distinguishable as a post-death "swim reflex".
Animals that have been sliced open down the belly and tossed in the bottom of a skiff but are still exhibiting conscious movements are a serious animal welfare concern.
Please do some research and learn some real facts!
Not only is the Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt the largest slaughter of marine life on the planet, it has to be one of the most wasteful, barbaric, unregulated hunts (not harvest-you harvest corn, not seals) on the planet.
The only reason this hunt continues boils down to politics, getting those 8 seats! Even sealers have admitted this year that there is no money in sealing, they have been quoted saying they are now hunting for the "sport".
This is a very expensive "sport" for Canadian tax payers. The very fact that so far this year only 20, 917 seals have been horrifically slaughtered, even though the government put the TAC (total allowable catch) at 400, 000 says it loud and clear-the hunt is a waste of taxpayers money!!! This hunt accounts for less than 1% of the provinces economy.
Last year only 390 hunters went out, this year even less. Millions of Canadian tax payers dollars are being wasted on this dying industry, the government is literally throwing our tax dollars away funding this hunt.
This year the ice level in the Gulf of St.Lawrence, where this atrocity takes place is at an all time low. This affects the seal population as mother seals need a solid platform of ice to give birth and nurse her pup for two weeks. Unfortunately global warming is having its effects and with 75% + sea pups drowning ( baby seals can not swim) before the hunt even begins, there is an environmental issue here as well.
The US and EU have banned seal products-they don't want them. There is no need for fur in todays world and absolutely no market for seal meat, hence the reason why sealers skin the seals and leave the meat behind to rot on the ice. The commercial seal hunt has absolutely nothing to do with the Inuit seal hunt and it is dishonest for the Canadian Government to mix the two together. The commercial seal hunt has nothing to do with culture and nothing to do with tradition, and if acts of animal cruelty are part of a tradition, that tradition needs to be changed. Worldwide, Canada is known for this barbaric annual seal hunt and the world looks down on Canada. The commercial seal hunt is tainting the image of our country.
This hunt is said to be regulated and humane. NOTHING could be farther from the truth. Live and fully concious baby seals are being hooked through their muzzles and eye socket (as to not damage their fur) dragged, clubbed, skinned and slaughtered. This is NOT humane. This has has been documented over and over in past years and again in 2011. Footage of hunters trying to stab a 600 lb adult seal with a hakapik this year has also been documented, which by the way is illegal. Hunting the white fluffy baby seal is illegal, but at three weeks of age (still a baby) the white coats molts, and turns to a beautiful spotted silvery grey coat-this is what the sealers are after. At three weeks of age before many of these seals can swim, have eaten solid food and have absolutely no way to defend themselves they are legal to kill. Footage of complete disrespect towards these baeutiful living creatures has been documented over and over. Sealers taking pictures with baby seals then picking them up by the flippers and throwing them across the ice, slicing their stomach while completely alive only to leave them behind to slowly die on the ice skin (fur) still intact, again illegal, but documented in this year's hunt.There is a three step process that sealers are supposed to conduct to humanely kill these seals, unfortunately everywhere you look violations are taking place, with absolutely no repercussions. If this was happening to homeless animals being beaten, hooked and skinned alive on the streets, people would cry "bloody murder".
Brian J- your comment is disgusting. No Sheryl does not watch too much TV. She has had to watch this nauseating, shameless display of human cruelty towards marine life and total lack of respect for living creatures every year for the past ten years, so that the truth, what really happens out on the ice, is reported. No seals do not wave for help, but if they could and they did they would be giving you, the "flipper".
EVERYTHING is wrong with this hunt.
Sheryl, thank you for everything you do. You are truly remarkable.
Until you can offer them an alternative for a living (one that includes trying to revive the Cod fishery that these damned seals are taking away from them, STFU and go back to worrying about auras and energies and useless stuff like that.
The fisheries have learned from overfishing. That is a thing of the past. The problem here is the seals (the mass abundance of them) eat too damn much cod for anyone's good.
Or maybe I just don't care because I would prefer people and their kids be fed from doing something productive, instead of living off of my overtaxed dime.
Or maybe I just don't care because I can differentiate between my food and stuffed animals :)
20,917 seals is a very low number when there is such a high TAC. The seal population is at an all time low this year due to the worst ice conditions in 30 yrs.
If there was an abundance of seals, the sealers would be out there killing them, with much higher numbers. If there was money to be made from sealing, the numbers would also be higher. In the past few years, including the 2011 hunt, sealers have even admitted there is no money to be made from sealing. There is no demand for seal products. This does not sound like a very productive way to keep food on the table.
Only 390 sealers went out last year and even fewer this year. With the hunt only lasting a few weeks out of the entire year, this is not how these people feed their families!!!. It cost Canadian tax payers millions of dollars to fund the hunt every year, with a less than a 50% return! The seal market is obsolete. Instead of wasting tax dollars funding this hunt, the money should be used to putting an end to the completely unnecessary commercial seal hunt and working on providing long-term sustainable employment for these fisherman.