Canadian fisheries officials will require a more humane approach to its annual seal hunt, which begins in Newfoundland in the next month.
A new set of rules, based on recommendations by a panel of veterinarians, will be released this week, reports the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto. Hunters will reportedly be required to sever the seals' arteries after they have been shot or clubbed in order to ensure a quicker and less painful death.
Phil Jenkins, a spokesman for Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, told the newspaper that the new measures are "another level of ensuring that this hunt is as humane as it can be."
But both sealers and anti-slaughter activists say the new regulations are not much different from how the seal cull is currently conducted.
In 2005, the Humane Society of the United States launched a boycott on Canadian seafood in protest of the seal hunt. The group says more than 2,000 chefs, retailers and distributors, including Whole Foods Markets, Trader Joe's and Legal Sea Foods, are participating in the boycott, as well as 330,000 American and Canadian consumers.
Rebecca Aldworth, director of Canadian Wildlife Issues for the HSUS, said spearing a seal and yanking it onto a boat to check its vital signs is an act of cruelty in itself.
"They're shooting from boats, at moving seals, from moving vessels, often at a distance of 50 to 60 meters," Aldworth told the Globe and Mail. "Even if you were able to stun that animal with one gunshot, it would take a significant amount of time to reach that animal and test for unconsciousness - and that's done by impaling the animal through the jaw with a hook and lifting it on to the boat. That does not fit with internationally accepted standards for a humane death."
The eastern Canada seal harp population is estimated at 6 million - triple the population of 30 years ago. Last year's cull was 270,000 seals. This year's quota has not yet been announced.
