Some 12,000 sealers armed with rifles and spears launched for the ice floes and islands off eastern Canada on Monday in the world's largest seal hunt, accompanied by protesters condemning the US$20 million harvest as barbaric.
Hunters are allowed to kill 350,000 young seals this year, the largest number since the government instituted quotas in the 1960s. The harp seal population is burgeoning at 5.2 million and pelts are garnering record prices of about US$50 each.
"I believe this hunt is inherently cruel and the regulations to protect the seals are woefully inadequate," said Rebecca Aldworth of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which will monitor the cull.
PHOTO: AFP
The hunt off the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador received international attention beginning in the 1960s, and bloody television images of baby harp seals being clubbed to death led to bans on white seal fur and boycotts of Canadian fish products in many European markets.
Since then, the Canadian government has tried to ease protesters' concerns by banning the killing of seal pups under 12 days old -- when their fur changes from white to gray -- and implementing regulations designed to make the hunt more humane.
Many countries, including the US, still ban imports of seal products, but Ottawa has supported the hunt to help Canada's economically suffering coastal towns. The industry earned about US$15 million last year, primarily from pelt sales to Norway, Denmark and China.
Earlier this year, the Humane Society of the US took out full-page newspaper ads urging Americans to cancel trips to Canada and boycott Canadian products.
US Senator Carl Levin introduced a resolution condemning the hunt, and some of those attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah earlier this year wore T-shirts reading: "Club Sandwiches, Not Seals."
However, some of the major activist groups that targeted sealing in the past said they have more pressing issues to address this year.
Andrew Male of Greenpeace Canada said the organization was "not actively campaigning" against the hunt, instead focusing on such issues as genetically modified foods and climate change.
Despite its newspaper ad, the Humane Society does not oppose the hunt itself, only some of the methods used by sealers, spokesman Nicholas Braden said.
Although most seals are shot instead of clubbed, many wounded animals are left to drown, he said. Also, an organization study found that 40 percent of the seals killed were still alive while being skinned, despite rules designed to prevent this, he said.
Steve Outhouse, a spokesman for Canada's Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans, disputed those accusations. A Canadian Veterinary Medical Association study found that 98 percent of the seals were killed "in a medically humane manner with the minimum of pain," he said on Monday.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS