IFAW: Canada to kill up to 50,000 seal pups as Winter Olympics begin

With international focus on Canada as the 2010 Winter Olympic Games begin this week, the Canadian government has announced the planned killing of as many as 50,000 grey seal pups on its east coast.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) condemns the cruel slaughter, much of which is expected to occur in a protected wilderness area.

Three out of every four grey seal pups born this year have been marked for death. On Hay Island, part of the protected Scaterie Island Wilderness Area, over 80% of this year’s pups may be killed.

Sheryl Fink, Senior Researcher with IFAW, said: “This federally funded extermination programme targets the most helpless of creatures for political purposes. There are no commercial or conservation reasons for this slaughter to proceed.

“With the few dying markets for seal products disappearing, and no evidence that killing seals will help fish stocks, this is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to obliterate an entire year class of defenceless animals.”

Observers have stated that the so-called grey seal ‘harvest’ is one of the cruellest in existence. Frightened and panicked pups are herded, clubbed and skinned in front of other still-nursing pups and their mothers. Sealers are allowed to enter the nursery to slaughter the three-week-old pups before they can swim and escape into the water, where they are more difficult to kill.

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For more information please contact Clare Sterling at IFAW in the UK on 020 7587 6708, mobile 07917 507717, email csterling@ifaw.org or Sheryl Fink at IFAW Canada on 1 (519) 830 0046, email sfink@ifaw.org

About the International Fund for Animal Welfare – As one of the world’s leading animal welfare organisations, IFAW has representation in 16 countries and carries out its animal welfare work in more than 40. IFAW works from its global headquarters in the United States and focuses its campaigns on improving the welfare of wild and domestic animals by reducing the commercial exploitation of animals, protecting wildlife habitats and assisting animals in distress. IFAW works both on the ground and in the halls of government to safeguard wild and domestic animals and seeks to motivate the public to prevent cruelty to animals and to promote animal welfare and conservation policies that advance the well-being of both animals and people. Visit www.ifaw.org