Seal industry needs to clean up its act

There has to be a more responsible, humane way for the sealing industry to monitor the way the hunt is conducted to end cruel seal hunting.

In recent years, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has exposed on video the barbaric cruelty of the Canadian seal hunt. The video footage shows hunters violating Canada's anti-cruelty laws and regulations, by skinning seals alive, trampling on them or piercing them with sharp hooks and dragging them for long distances across the ice. The Canadian Coast Guard vessel is shown crushing live seals beneath the boat's hull.

The federal government proposed new rules in 2000, but they have yet to be legislated. The proposed regulations, described in documents obtained using Access to Information, describe what hunters must do after a seal has been clubbed or shot. In short, the hunter must confirm the seal is dead and not suffering prolonged pain by either feeling the seal's crushed head or by doing a blinking reflex test by poking the eyes of the seal.

However, the new rules have different guidelines for hunters using rifles. They don't have to perform the test immediately after the seal is shot. The federal Fisheries Department says hunters can't be expected to check every seal shot because they are not right there with the seal.

If it is necessary to destroy these animals to protect the fishing industry or for pelts, then the sealing industry groups need to eliminate the slow and painful deaths many of these animals are subjected to and impose new and better rules than the ones proposed, with strict punishments if the rules are broken.

The seal hunt should be treated the same way as with any other animal industry. The way these animals are treated is shocking and repulsive. The evidence accumulated over the years is simply being ignored by sealing organizations.

Jennifer Platts