http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=3036245
<http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=3036245>

Ending the seal slaughter

Rebecca Aldworth, National Post

Stewart Cook, Reuters

The shot smashed into the face of the three-week-old seal pup.
Screaming, she thrashed in agony, her blood staining the ice across a
three foot radius. For nearly two minutes, nearby sealers were
impervious to her suffering. As she slowly crawled through her own
blood, her face hanging in pieces, I could only wonder what kind of
society would tolerate this.

It was April 8, 2010--opening day of the commercial seal hunt off of
Newfoundland, which Peter Kuitenbrouwer described as "a traditional rite
of food-gathering that heralds the arrival of spring" (Seal hunt diary,
April 23). I was filming this atrocity from the air. Ninety-seven
percent of the seals killed in this annual bloodbath are pups less than
three months of age, and everywhere I looked, baby seals were being shot
and clubbed to death in horrific ways. So many crawled across the ice,
through their own blood, in agony. Others slipped, bleeding, into the
water and were not seen again. Everywhere, sealers violated the few,
inadequate rules that are supposed to guide them.

For each of the past 12 years, I have witnessed Canada's commercial seal
slaughter. In that time, I have consistently documented baby seals
forced to endure a level of violence and suffering that few adults can
bear to look at on videotape.

It is unimaginably hard to film. Separated 1,000 feet from crying, dying
seals, we are prevented by law from saving them. Despite cynical
government claims that the killing is "humane," the cruelty is in fact
escalating. Leading veterinary experts say Canada's commercial seal
slaughter is inherently inhumane, and should be stopped forever.

It may surprise some people to know that I grew up in a Newfoundland
sealing community. In that small outport, I learned most of what I know
about life. About compassion, courage and standing up for those who
cannot defend themselves. Then, 12 years ago, I watched firsthand as a
terrified baby seal was beaten on the ice, her thrashing body cut open,
her carcass abandoned in a bloody pool. In that moment, I vowed that I
would devote the rest of my life to stopping this bloody industry.

Thankfully, it may not take that long.

Just a year ago, I was present as 550 Members of the European Parliament
voted for a strong ban on seal product trade -- not because it was the
easy thing to do, but because it was the right thing to do. In doing so,
they joined the United States, which banned seal products in 1972, and
Croatia and Mexico, which ended their seal product trade in 2006.

Sealing is not and never will be an economic mainstay in Newfoundland.
It is a few days of work for commercial fishermen who earn, on average,
more than 95% of their incomes from fisheries and only a tiny fraction
from killing seals. Notably, the continuation of the seal slaughter is
threatening their fishing incomes. A boycott of Canadian seafood that
will spread until the seal hunt ends already has the support of more
than 5,500 companies and 650,000 people. That boycott has already cost
Canada's economy many times the value of the seal slaughter, and it is
expanding in the United States and the European Union this year.

The writing is on the wall: The sealing industry is on its way out. But
instead of stepping forward with a generous transition package for
sealers, stubborn Canadian politicians have responded with empty
gestures of support for the "tradition of sealing."

In doing so, they may be overlooking the views of the very people they
are claiming to support. A recent poll by Ipsos Reid shows half of
Newfoundland sealers holding an opinion support a federal buyout of the
commercial sealing industry. This would involve the government
compensating fishermen for their sealing licences and investing in
economic alternatives in the communities involved.

It is time the Canadian government seriously considered this new way
forward. Instead of spending millions of dollars each year to prop up
the dying sealing industry, Canada should make a onetime investment in
ending the slaughter for good.

What we need now is leadership in our government. In just 11 months, a
new generation of baby seals will be subjected to another brutal
slaughter. It is the responsibility of all Canadians -- and our
parliamentarians --to stop it first.

- Rebecca Aldworth is executive director Humane Society
International/Canada.