Activists release video of 'horrific' seal hunt

Canadian Press
Thursday, June 02, 2005

TORONTO - Animal activists continued their campaign against the slaughter of seals on the east coast Wednesday by releasing new footage of this year's seal hunt, which they say depicts acts of "horrific" cruelty as well as violations of the Criminal Code.

Officials in Ottawa responded by dismissing the new footage as little more than an annual rite of protest.

Rebecca Aldworth, Canadian director of the Humane Society of the United States, accused hunters of throwing seals into stockpiles and leaving them to "suffocate in their own blood," of stabbing them with metal spikes and dragging the animals across the ice while they struggled.

Phil Jenkins, a spokesman for the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, said freshly killed seals often exhibit a "swim reflex" that makes them appear alive.

The activists have sent their video to the RCMP in Charlottetown in hopes of prompting an investigation.