It wasn\’t the American Humane Society that spoke with the Standing Committee on Fisheries – it was the Humane Society of the United States. They are two separate organizations.

Secondly, Gerald Keddy is not in a position to declare the commercial seal hunt humane, considering members of the Standing Committee were stuck on a Coast Guard vessel at least 100 METRES away from the slaughter. Due to ice conditions and maneuvering of sealing boats, the only way to reliably observe this year\’s seal hunt was from the air, which is exactly how I observed. I was in a helicopter directly over the sealers and seals, getting an unimpaired, close-up view of the slaughter, and I can assure you that what I saw was decidedly NOT humane. Seal pups were shot and left to suffer for long periods of time; seal pups were beaten about the face and body with illegal weapons; conscious seal pups were stabbed through the head with metal hooks and hauled up onto boats where they were thrown in piles of dead and dying seals – that\’s just a small sample of what I witnessed myself and it was all captured on videotape as I watched and is available on HSUS\’s video website (go to http://video.hsus.org and choose from the channel navigator \’Press Room\’ and \’Seals\’ and click on each video to play).

I witnessed countless violations of the Marine Mammal Regulations which resulted in unacceptable suffering. Sealers did not ensure the seal was dead or insensible before being hooked or left on the ice, by palpation of skull or eye-reflex test. Oftentimes because of ice conditions, sealers simply leaned over the side of the boat, stabbed obviously live and conscious seals through the head and hauled them onboard. During all of this, we saw no evidence of DFO monitoring or regulating the slaughter. There was *no* DFO presence while these atrocities were occurring. No monitoring; no regulating. Mr. Keddy either could not have seen this from his faraway location or – more likely – chose not to see this so he could continue government rhetoric that the seal hunt is \”humane, closely monitored and tightly regulated\”.

I would also like to point out that while government claims shooting is more humane than clubbing (the oft-used phrase is \”90% of seals are shot and not clubbed\”) shooting is just as cruel as clubbing, if not more so. Videos from this year\’s seal hunt speak louder than words in this respect. I suggest anyone who is in doubt follow the link above and watch the videos, particularly from April 10th. There can be no doubt in the minds and hearts of compassionate people after watching the evidence that this is a truly inhumane \”hunt\”.

Thanks and have a great day.

Bridget W. Curran
Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition