Update on the 2007 Canadian seal hunt
Thursday 29 March 2007
The Department of Fisheries & Oceans in Canada has announced that the number of animals to be killed in this year’s hunt is 270,000.
Whilst the quota is down on previous years it is astonishing that the Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) is still allowing this number of seals to be killed. Global warming has caused the ice off Canada’s east coast to melt before the seal pups are old enough to survive in the water, meaning that most pups have already drowned. Yet despite this catastrophe the Canadian government is allowing this politcally motivated hunt to go ahead.
However, such a decision in the pursuit of profit is not without precedent. In 2002, DFO estimated that 3/4 of all pups born in the Gulf of St Lawrence had died yet they still allowed not only the hunt to proceed but the sealers to kill 37,000 seals over the quota.
No start date has been anounced but it is expected to begin in the next few days. Observers from Respect for Animals are still in position to witness this year’s hunt.