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.
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
COMFORT WOMEN CLASH: Japan has strongly rejected South Korean court rulings ordering the government to provide reparations to Korean victims of sexual slavery The Japanese government yesterday defended its stance on wartime sexual slavery and described South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese compensation as violations of international law, after UN investigators criticized Tokyo for failing to ensure truth-finding and reparations for the victims. In its own response to UN human rights rapporteurs, South Korea called on Japan to “squarely face up to our painful history” and cited how Tokyo’s refusal to comply with court orders have denied the victims payment. The statements underscored how the two Asian US allies still hold key differences on the issue, even as they pause their on-and-off disputes over historical
CONSOLIDATION: The Indonesian president has used the moment to replace figures from former president Jokowi’s tenure with loyal allies In removing Indonesia’s finance minister and U-turning on protester demands, the leader of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is scrambling to restore public trust while seizing a chance to install loyalists after deadly riots last month, experts say. Demonstrations that were sparked by low wages, unemployment and anger over lawmakers’ lavish perks grew after footage spread of a paramilitary police vehicle running over a delivery motorcycle driver. The ensuing riots, which rights groups say left at least 10 dead and hundreds detained, were the biggest of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s term, and the ex-general is now calling on the public to restore their
RSS