McCartneys and The HSUS Call on the Canadian Government to End the Seal Hunt
WASHINGTON – Heather and Paul McCartney joined The Humane Society of the United States today on the ice floes off Canada's East Coast to observe newborn harp seal pups just weeks before they will be clubbed and shot to death for their fur. The McCartneys' visit to the seal nursery will highlight the work of The HSUS and its international arm Humane Society International, and the UK campaign group Respect for Animals. Both organizations are campaigning to close global markets for seal products and to pressure the Canadian government to end the seal hunt for good.
"Previous Canadian governments have allowed this heartbreaking hunt to continue despite the fact that the majority of its citizens – as well as those in Europe and America - are opposed to it," the McCartneys said in a joint statement. "We have complete faith that Prime Minister Harper will take swift and decisive action to end the slaughter of these defenseless seal pups for good."
During the last three years alone, the Canadian government has allowed nearly 1 million seals to be slaughtered. Fully 97 percent of the seals killed were less than 3 months of age, and the majority was less than 1 month old. A 2001 independent veterinarian report concluded that close to half of the seals examined were likely still conscious when skinned, causing "considerable and unacceptable suffering."
The McCartneys' visit comes just before tourists from around the world will gather on the ice floes to observe the seal pups and their mothers interacting in their pristine habitat of snow and ice. The pups have no instinctive fear of people, so these tourists will have the opportunity to be within arm's reach. Approximately two weeks later, in the last week of March, the hunt will begin.
"I've observed the seal hunt at close range for seven years," stated Rebecca Aldworth, director of Canadian wildlife issues for The Humane Society of the United States. "I routinely witness conscious seals dragged across the ice with boathooks, wounded seals left to choke on their own blood, and seals being skinned alive. The commercial seal hunt is inherently cruel – it is a national disgrace."
Today's kill levels meet and even exceed those of the 1950s and 1960s, when over-hunting reduced the harp seal population by as much as two-thirds. In the 1980s, an EU ban on the import of skins from 'whitecoat' (newborn) seals dramatically reduced the number of seals killed in the hunt. But today, sealers kill pups as soon as they have begun to moult – as young as 12 days old – and the skins of these slightly older seals are legally traded in Europe. Opinion polls consistently show the overwhelming majority of Canadians, Americans and Europeans oppose the commercial seal hunt. Mexico, Italy and Greenland are just the latest countries to take action to ban the trade in Canadian seal products.
"Heather and Paul McCartney are shining a bright light on extraordinary spectacle of seal pups being born on the ice floes of Atlantic Canada, and they are signaling to the world that the impending commercial slaughter of these helpless creatures is an appalling and unconscionable act," said Wayne Pacelle, CEO of The HSUS. "This hunt is doing incalculable damage to Canada's name and reputation."
Photographs and video footage of Heather and Paul McCartney with the seals and 2005 seal hunt images are available on request. Please contact Tracey McIntire at 301-548-7793 or tmcintire@hsus.org.
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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization representing more than 9.5 million members and constituents. The non-profit organization is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals and equine protection, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in research and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy, and field work. The group is based in Washington and has numerous field representatives across the country. On the web at www.hsus.org.
