Baby Seals are Murdered
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Mara Rigge
April 2005

March 29th the largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals on the planet began off Canada's Atlantic coast. By the end of this year's hunt, more than 300,000 baby harp seals will have been brutally killed—many, incredibly, as young as 12 days old. The Humane Society of the United States and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is on the front lines in Canada, reporting and videotaping events as they unfold and fighting to halt this atrocity.

The innocent baby harp seals that are being killed for their fur are nursing pups. They are less than four weeks old and are unable to swim, so they are sitting ducks on the ice. They are beaten with hak-a-piks and/or shot in front of their mothers, many are skinned while they are still alive. Their convulsing carcasses are left on the ice for their mothers to sniff and grieve over.

March 31st, sealers attacked the crew of the Farley Mowat (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) with hak-a-piks. Instead of arresting the sealers, the Canadian Coast Guard moved in with their ships, cutting off Sea Shepherd crewmembers on the ice, almost shoving them into the icy waters. They then illegally arrested 11 crewmembers and let the sealers go. (The Canadian Government doesn't want anyone videotaping or taking pictures of the slaughter and were looking for any excuse to arrest the Farley Mowat crew and seize their evidence.) Luckily, the Humane Society of the United States immediately flew a helicopter to the Farley Mowat and retrieved the pictures and videotapes so the Canadian Coast Guard could not seize them. Please go to: www.seashepherd.org for pictures of the assault and more information. The crewmembers are being illegally held on the ship "Amundsen".

Seal hunting is an off-season activity conducted by fishers from Canada's East Coast. They earn a small fraction of their incomes from sealing and the rest from commercial fisheries. Canadian seafood exports to the United States contribute $3 billion annually to the Canadian economy--dwarfing the few million dollars provided by the seal hunt. The connection between the commercial fishing industry and the seal hunt in Canada gives consumers all over the world the power to end this cruel and brutal slaughter.

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