Seal slaughter in Canada

A letter from Cecilia Fabris, Pisa

Dear JUST Response,

I would like to focus your attention on a really serious fact. I refer to the slaughter of seals in Canada. For over fifty years this massacre, this terrible phenomenon which regards the Newfoundland province, Ottawa city and Charlottetown, has raised our indignation.

Most of these places have given their regular permission to kill 12,000 exemplars of seals per year. A vast number of these animals are killed by sadistic hunters. The following statistics speak clearly for themselves. In the course of 1996 the number of murdered seals was 350,000. In 2004, 289,000 were killed. And between 2003 and 2005 approximately 975,000 seals were killed altogether.  This means that since 1996 over a million of these beautiful animals have been massacred.

If these statistics are not enough, you should know that 97% of these exemplars are cubs that were less than three weeks old when slaughtered and that 79% of the hunters show absolutely no concern about even checking that the animals have actually died before skinning them!

Seals are killed with "hakapics", a heavy wooden pole with an iron hook at the end. With this marvellous instrument the hunters beat the poor animal with all their strength and then drag it for long distances so that it will die bloodless after atrocious suffering.

Some 20 million dollars have been spent in trading furs in Canadian cities and celebrities such as Brigitte Bardot and Paul McCartney have brought this fact to the attention of former Canadian premier Paul Martin, current premier Stephen Harper and federal minister Loyola Hearn. But these political figures attempted to provide justification by claiming that over the last few years the fishing of codfish had decreased and that some account should be taken of the reproduction of the species. We must all act together with LAV [Lega Antivivisezione] and IFAW [International Fund for Animal Welfare] to say enough is enough to these inhuman killings.

I ask that the permitted number of seals hunted each year should be drastically lowered, that far less barbarous methods should be employed and that seal cubs should be spared.

I hope that my letter can help sensitise more people to the situation and help improve it as soon as possible.

Note: This letter was published by JUST Response on June 10 2007.

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