MSNBC Humane? Canada's seal hunt questioned

[Guest guest]

Humane? Canada's seal hunt questioned

Canada's annual seal hunt doesn't get much

attention anymore, but activists argue it's

hardly the humane cull the government makes it

out to be and are using hunt video to make their

point.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4608053/

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan Hayward / AP - Canadian hunters unload

their catch of harp seals in Quirpon on

Newfoundland's northern peninsula.

Humane? Canada seal hunt centers on question

Video of hunters used in battle between government, activists

 

By Miguel Llanos

Reporter

MSNBC

Updated: 1:57 p.m. ET April 23, 2004

 

Ever since Canada enacted reforms to make seal

hunting more humane, the annual seal hunt -this

year's quota is 350,000 pups - hasn't gotten much

attention. But is the reality living up to the

reforms?

 

Activists monitoring the hunt say it's not, and

use video of hunters to make their point. Canada

says it is, citing a report by animal vets to

back its position and noting that officials are

ready and able to crack down on any inhumane

hunters.

 

Most hunting is for young pups, whose pelts fetch

more on international markets than seals more

than a few months old. Canada's biggest reform

was a ban on hunting pups before they shed their

white fur, usually about 12 days. Images of those

cuddly pups became icons of the 1970s protests

against the hunt, which takes place on ice floes

across eastern Canada.

 

The debate today comes down to this: Do the young

seals die a quick, humane death before hunters

skin them?

 

'Swimming reflex?'

Roger Simon, who oversees the hunt for Canada's

Department of Fisheries and Oceans, says activist

video purportedly showing seals being skinned

alive is actually showing unconscious or dead

seals going through a " swimming reflex " -

involuntary movements that mimic swimming. It's

akin, he says, to seeing the final seconds of a

chicken running with its head cut off.

 

" It's impossible to skin a live seal, or a

conscious one, " he says. " Can you imagine trying

to skin a live animal ... it would scream and

claw. "

 

Besides, he adds, why would you " when you can kill it in one second. "

 

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, which

has monitored the hunts for years, counters that

hunters often are in such a hurry that they club

or shoot as many as possible before going back to

check their condition and skin them.

 

" Mr. Simon cannot dismiss every instance simply

with reference to a swimming reflex, " says IFAW

science advisor David Lavigne, a former zoology

professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario,

Canada.

 

Video turned over to Canada shows scenes like

" pups being skinned alive and reacting by doing

things like lifting up their heads and crying in

pain or trying to grab the knife with their front

paws, " Lavigne says. " These behaviors are not a

swimming reflex, these are wounded animals. This

year we filmed one seal, left wounded in a pile

of dead seals, crying out for nearly an hour

while sealers stood nearby. "

 

Simon doesn't doubt that incident but adds " you

cannot describe the whole industry based on one

observation. The fact that some people commit

violations is the reason we have fishery

officers, helicopters, and surveillance vessels

out there to enforce the regulations.

 

" If you see a video where a pitcher is trying to

bean a hitter would you conclude that this is a

fair portrayal of Major League Baseball, " he

asks. Canada's 12,000 seal hunters should " be

judged on the vast majority of sealers doing

their job properly, not on some selected clips

from a video. "

 

Canada has issued 322 violations over the

previous five years, most of them for small

infractions.

 

The activists say that in that time they've

documented on video what they feel are 660

serious violations of Canada's marine mammal

rules.

 

IFAW adds that, while it would prefer to see all

hunting stop, it would be satisfied with what it

considers compliance with the law. " A subsidized

hunt for baby animals is like paying people to

kill kittens with a claw hammer, " says IFAW

spokesman Chris Cutter, " we are simply asking

Canada to abide by and enforce its own rules. ...

" A quick death is much preferred if that's

inevitable. "

 

Vets' reports

Skinning live seals would violate Canada's marine

mammal rules as well as its criminal code, which

makes it a crime to willfully cause " unnecessary

pain, suffering or injury to an animal or bird. "

 

Simon insists the vast majority of seal deaths

are quick and humane, citing a study by members

of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association

who inspected hunts in recent years. That study

concludes that " the large majority of seals taken

during this hunt are killed in a humanely

acceptable manner. "

 

Lavigne counters that study " only demonstrates

that if you go to a sealing vessel with a

(government) guide, and tell them that you are

there to monitor killing techniques, that a small

number of seals are still killed improperly. "

 

IFAW points to a study it commissioned in which

five veterinarians concluded that " the hunt is

resulting in considerable and unacceptable

suffering, " including many pups skinned alive.

 

Testing reflexes

One area where both sides might eventually find

some common ground is in what's called the

" blinking reflex test " for seals.

 

" Basically, after a seal is clubbed a sealer is

supposed to touch the seal's eyes. If the seal

doesn't blink, it's dead. If it blinks, still

alive, " says Cutter.

 

Simon notes the test is mandatory this year, and

that six written warnings have been issued out of

the hundreds of sealers checked so far.

 

Cutter questions whether the test is properly

enforced, saying he never saw it done on any of

the 500 or so seals he saw hunted this year. He

acknowledges, however, that if Canada enforced

the test " it would eliminate all the controversy

around this. "

 

Next steps

IFAW intends to keep monitoring this year's hunt,

which could go continue through May 15, and then

review its options, one of which could be a legal

challenge in Newfoundland, where most of the

hunting takes place.

 

Simon is confident the report citing a humane

hunt is his department's ace in the hole against

activists. That report " blows their argument out

of the water, " he says, because the veterinary

association is " the competent authority in

Canada. "

 

What does IFAW have to say about that? " It seems

entirely inappropriate for a government employee

to pre-judge the courts and what they might

decide, " Lavigne says. " IFAW does think, however,

that it is presumptuous to suggest that such an

obviously deficient study - it would be torn

apart in court - would play much of a role if new

evidence were put before a court.

 

" But it is correct, " he adds, " that the

Newfoundland courts - sometimes with judges who,

when politicians, were supporters of the hunt -

have not been very sympathetic to allowing

videotaped evidence into court in the first

place. "

 

The vets from the Canadian association offered

yet another take, urging seal hunters to play by

the rules if for no other reason than to maintain

a healthy supply of seals into the future.

 

Even if only a few animals have died inhumanely,

they concluded, that in itself warrants

" continuous attention to the hunt. "

 

" Ultimately, " they wrote, " the quality of the

hunt will depend on the ethics of individual

sealers, something which is difficult to

legislate with total efficiency and consistency

unless all sealers fully realize that this is in

the long-term interest of their own industry. "

 

Canadian government background on seals and the

hunt is online at

www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/seal-phoque/index_e.htm.

 

MSNBC.com has chosen not to offer the IFAW video

but select clips and IFAW background are online

at http://www.ifaw.org.

 

Is Canada right in allowing seal hunts? * 17190 responses

Yes, it keeps the seal population under control and helps locals make a living

28%

No, it's inhumane and unnecessary

67%

Can't decide

6%

Not a scientifically valid survey. Click to learn more.

 

© 2004 MSNBC Interactive

 

 

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