IFAW: Seal hunt starts – but animal welfare monitors and media denied access to the hunt

(Charlottetown, Canada – March 28, 2008) – Canada’s annual commercial seal hunt is due to start today, but animal welfare groups who peacefully monitor the cruelty each year are currently being denied access to the ice.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has been on standby for several days to film the hunt in the Gulf of St Lawrence, off Canada’s east coast, but after waiting for standard monitoring permits to be issued yesterday were told that no permits would be issued until after the hunt had started.

The Canadian government’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans gave the same message to media representatives from around the world who travelled to Canada to witness the hunt, which this year has a kill quota for 275,000 seals.

Robbie Marsland, UK Director of IFAW, said: “IFAW peacefully monitors this annual slaughter every year to document the unacceptable cruelty involved in the killing of seals and despite the difficulties we will push to be allowed to film the hunt and show the world what is happening.

“We can’t help but wonder why, at the same time the Canadian government is claiming so-called ‘new’ regulations will make the hunt more humane, it is anxious to censor the hunt and stop the world from seeing what really happens. We can only assume that with international pressure growing for an end to the hunt, the Canadian government has something to hide.

“It is time this hunt ended. Every year we witness the ice floes turned red with the blood of hundreds of thousands of seals, mostly pups under three months of age, to provide luxury fur products for the fashion industry which few people buy and nobody needs.”

IFAW opposes the hunt because, as well as being inherently cruel, it is unnecessary and biologically unsustainable. Momentum for an end to the hunt is growing with bans on the trade in seal products from Canada now in place in Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Croatia, as well as the US and Mexico. Germany and Italy are working towards introducing similar legislation.

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For more information, images and footage, or to arrange interviews, please contact Clare Sterling at IFAW on 020 7587 6708, mobile 07917 507717, or email csterling@ifaw.org

Alternatively, for more information on IFAW’s campaign to end the world’s largest hunt for marine mammals, visit www.stopthesealhunt.co.uk

Note to Editors:

IFAW has a team of professional video cameramen and photographers ready to document the hunt. Images will be fed out via www.thenewsmarket.com/ifaw as they are obtained.
Visit www.thenewsmarket.com/ifaw frequently for updated broadcast quality video and still images of the 2007 commercial seal hunt.
APTN satellite feeds will be available once the hunt begins. Feed times TBA.