US lawmakers ask Canada to stop baby seal hunt

31st July 2007, 7:15 WST

The US House of Representatives today unanimously passed a resolution
demanding Ottawa end the hunting of baby seals in Canada.

The resolution was introduced by Democrat Tom Lantos, chairman of the House
of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and Christopher Shays,
Republican of Connecticut.

The resolution said more than a million seals have been killed in the past
three years and over the past five years, 95 per cent of the seals killed
were less than 12 weeks of age, with the youngest just 12-days old.

Lantos said this "inhumane practice is far beneath the dignity of the people
of Canada".

"There is no real good reason to let this needless slaughter continue and
every reason to put it to a stop. We call on the Canadian government to
suspend the hunt in the waters off the East Coast of Canada now and
forever," he said.

Shays said: "I oppose the cruel practice of killing hundreds of thousands of
young seals, as well as the environmental impact of this practice."

"It is our duty to protect and care for all of these animals," he said.

The Humane Society of the United States congratulated the House for taking
up the matter.

"Canada's commercial seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals in
the world," said their vice president, John Grandy.

A similar measure was introduced in the US Senate in March.

WASHINGTON
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