Activists release seal-hunt footage

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Activists release seal-hunt footage

Colin Perkel
Canadian Press - Wednesday, June 01, 2005

TORONTO -- Animal activists continued their campaign against the slaughter of seals on the east coast Wednesday by releasing new footage of this year's seal hunt, which they say depicts acts of "horrific" cruelty as well as violations of the Criminal Code.

Officials in Ottawa responded by dismissing the new footage as little more than an annual rite of protest in the long-running, emotionally charged war between Canadian sealers and opponents of the practice.

The footage depicts acts that Rebecca Aldworth, Canadian director of the Humane Society of the United States, said violate both the cruelty-to-animals provisions of the Criminal Code and marine regulations aimed at keeping the slaughter humane.

"What we saw was absolutely horrific," Aldworth told a news conference.

"It's something that no compassionate Canadian could ever accept if they could see it for themselves."

In several scenes, seals hit with spiked clubs called hakapiks appeared to still be conscious, their blood staining the ice floes off the coast of Newfoundland, while their attackers rush to catch up to the next scampering target.

Aldworth accused hunters of throwing seals into stockpiles and leaving them to "suffocate in their own blood," of stabbing them with metal spikes and dragging the animals across the ice while they continued to struggle.

Phil Jenkins, a spokesman for the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, defended the annual practice, which allowed some 12,000 licensed seal hunters to harvest nearly one million animals between 2003 and 2005.

Freshly killed seals often exhibit a "swim reflex" that makes them appear alive, Jenkins said from Ottawa.

"If somebody has evidence of cruelty to seals, we would like to see it . . .bring it on," he said.

"Where we find violations and people not following the rules, we will prosecute them - and we do."

During the hunt, which began in mid-April, about a quarter of a million seals, most between 12 days and three months old, were harvested over several weeks.

The footage also depicts sealers wielding clubs and skinning knives as they force the licensed hunt observers to retreat to their helicopter.

"We're here to work," one sealer can be heard yelling. "It's our work."

Prof. Ron Sklar, a legal and constitutional expert at McGill University, said the intimidation appeared to him to be a clear violation of both the Criminal Code and the constitutional rights of the observers.

"The observers were there lawfully," Sklar said. "They were not there to disrupt the hunt."

Based on the videotapes, Sklar said he believed police would have had grounds to charge the sealers with threatening bodily harm, intimidation, criminal harassment or aggravated assault.

The activists have sent the video to the RCMP in Charlottetown in hopes of prompting an investigation.

Dr. Mary Richardson, past chair of the animal welfare committee of the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association, said she believes it's impossible to slaughter seals humanely and legally, given the short time frame, the tools used and the number and size of the animals killed.

"Most of the seals are dying inhumanely," Richardson said.

Jenkins cited a 2002 study by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association - a study the hunt's detractors denounce as flawed - that says 98 per cent of the seals die humanely.

"The images are emotive, there's no doubt about it. However, the method of killing with hakapiks is very efficient and humane."

Hunters have long argued the seal harvest is a critical part of their annual income, while its detractors say Ottawa has misled Canadians into believing the practice is economically necessary in eastern Canada.

The society says the hunt yields about $1,200 for each of about 4,000 sealers and forms just a tiny fraction of their livelihoods and the East Coast economy.

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