Urgent! The Horrific 2022 Canadian Seal Hunt Begins Tomorrow With A Quota Of 400,000 Harp Seals Allowed To Be Slaughtered; Help Stop The Sickening Hunt!

The controversial 2022 Canadian commercial seal hunt off the coast of Newfoundland will begin tomorrow, April 8th, with an expected allowable kill of 400,000 harp seals for the season. This tragically includes seal pups three weeks to three months of age who are shot with a rifle or killed using a spiked club known as a hakapik.

The cruel slaughter and sheer size of Canada’s commercial seal hunt, the largest authorized slaughter of marine mammals anywhere on earth, has brought much criticism from across the globe. IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) has led a campaign to end the commercial slaughter of seals since 1969.

Approximately 26,000 seals were killed in 2021, with an average value of CAD$27 per seal, representing a significant reduction from the CAD$102 per skin that sealers received at the peak of the 2006 hunt.

While the scale and value of the commercial seal hunt has decreased dramatically over the years, the industry continues to receive financial and political support from the Canadian government. As markets for seal products have been in steep decline since 2006, it seems clear that the industry cannot survive on a commercial basis without ongoing government support geared towards the development and promotion of seal products. This must end!

“Closing international markets, a lack of demand for seal products, changing climate conditions, and perhaps even mistakes made by the sealing industry itself, all have played a part in bringing the commercial seal hunt to a fraction of its former magnitude,” IFAW Canada Campaigns Director Sheryl Fink said in a statement. “It is time to leave Canada’s commercial seal hunt where it belongs, in the past, and instead focus on supporting much needed alternatives in Atlantic Canada, such as funding the removal of ghost gear and marine debris from our ocean environment.”

Europe has been a major driving force behind the international pressure against the annual hunt, banning the importation of products from ‘whitecoat’ harp seals and blueback hooded seals in 1983. Ultimately, over one million newborn seals were saved from slaughter as a result.

In 2009, the European Union took it a step further by restricting the placement of all seal products on the market, exempting those hunted by indigenous peoples. When challenged by Canada and Norway, the World Trade Organization (WTO) upheld the EU ban, the first dispute settlement on the basis of public moral concerns over animal welfare. There are now 36 international trade bans on seal products across the globe which include 27 Member States of the EU.

Canada’s commercial seal hunt has decreased by over 90% since the European trade bans were first enacted.

Help put an END to the horrific Canadian seal hunt, HERE!