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Seal hunt supporters turn nasty

Animal-rights activists said their vehicle carrying European journalists was run off the road on Thursday as they were on their way to a helicopter to document Canada's seal hunt.

A mob of about 60 seal hunt supporters then surrounded their hotel and prevented them from leaving, members of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) said.

Rebecca Aldworth, a spokeswoman for the group, said from inside the hotel in Blanc-Sablon, Quebec, a small town near the Labrador border, that the situation was tense.

"There's only two police officers out there," she said. "They could get us out of here if they wanted to, but they're refusing to take us in their police vans."

Aldworth said the police were serving as mediators between the angry fishermen -- whose livelihoods are supplemented by sales of the seal pelts and blubber -- and the Humane Society, which calls the hunt barbaric and wants it halted.

Late in the day, Quebec provincial police escorted the 15 activists and journalists from the hotel to the airport. But by the time they arrived, their helicopters had already departed and they were unable to document the hunt.

Earlier in the day, local residents rammed a Humane Society van carrying European journalists to the airport, where they were scheduled to fly out on a helicopter to document the hunt, Aldworth said, adding that nobody was injured.

"When they left, they were followed by a mob and people who were pounding on the van," she said.

Andrew Plumbly, another member of the Humane Society, said he managed to proceed toward the airport but two men in a yellow truck chased them down and rammed the van, sending it into a ditch.

Plumbly said he and the journalists from Switzerland, Germany and the UK, were worried that if they got out of the van or tried to continue onto the airport, the men would harm them, so they made their way back to the hotel.

HSUS officials in Washington, said they had placed calls to the US State Department and the US Embassy.

The final leg of the seal hunt moved to Newfoundland on Wednesday, with sealers expected to slaughter another 234,000 harp seal pups. The government insists the annual hunt is humane and sustainable, with a healthy population of 6 million harp seals in the Canadian Maritimes.

Hunters already have taken their quota of 91,000 seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence hunt, which ended last week.

"We are appalled by these violent tactics used by the local citizens in an attempt to prevent our team from documenting the cruelty of the seal hunt," said John Grandy, senior vice president of the Humane Society in Washington, "Our team is there as peaceful observers and they should not have to fear for their safety."

Aldworth said it was the second day her group has faced angry crowds.
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