Live from the Ice

Poised to Win for the Seals

April 10, 2007/© The HSUS

Our ProtectSeals team has moved out of Newfoundland (map) and our efforts to document the commercial seal hunt in 2007 have come to a close. This was my ninth year of observing the seal hunt and it was one of the most devastating. From our helicopters, we watched and filmed in horror. 

The cruelty we witnessed brought home exactly why this slaughter must be ended forever. The baby seals targeted for their fur were no match for the sealers who ran across the ice, armed with deadly weapons and greed. Wounded pups tried pathetically to escape, dragging their bleeding bodies toward the edges of the ice. But the sealers reached them, stabbed them with metal hooks, and dragged them back to their grim fate.

Each year, I come away from this slaughter more determined than ever to shut this "industry" down for good. And this year, the ProtectSeals team leaves knowing that we will succeed in that monumental task. For as much as the Canadian government - my government - continues to lie to its own public, to foreign governments, and even to itself, there is simply no defense against what we have documented this year.

April 5, 2007/© The HSUS

This is a battle of wills, and it is a battle we are poised to win.

We have the truth and compassion on our side, and we are not alone. We are joined by governments the world over and international seafood distributors who are using their power to ensure this is the last baby seal slaughter any of us will ever have to witness.

And most importantly, we have you. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a key part of our seal hunt expedition in 2007. It is never easy to bear witness to slaughter, but in doing so, you have helped us spread the word about the plight of the baby seals.

Now comes the hardest part - our ongoing campaign to stop this brutality from repeating. We all need to do more. We must increase the number of people and companies boycotting Canadian seafood to step up the pressure on the Canadian government and fishing industry. And we must ensure that the European Union follows through on its intent to ban the trade in seal products.

This will be my final journal entry, but please continue to stand with us. Together, we will ensure this slaughter is ended for good.

We Will Not Fail the Seals

This morning the sun was shining in Newfoundland. As I looked out over the sparkling water, I found it impossible to reconcile the stunning beauty of this landscape with the ugliness of the hunt happening just beyond the horizon. Today, the seal hunt moves northeast of Newfoundland (map), out of range of our helicopters, to an area called the "Front."

In less than 24 hours, we expect that thousands of seal hunters on hundreds of sealing vessels will kill well over 100,000 baby seals in this area.

April 10, 2007/© The HSUS

I've seen this part of the seal hunt many times in the past. The scale and intensity of the slaughter are shocking - sealing boats stretch across the horizon as far as the eye can see, and the sealers work frantically to kill as many animals as quickly as possible. Within hours, the vast ice floes are covered in blood.

Although the number of animals killed in the Front is greater, the killing looks exactly the same as the hunting by Newfoundlanders that we witnessed earlier this month in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The baby seals are shot or clubbed, then stabbed with metal hooks and dragged onto boats. The sealers rarely check to ensure the animals are dead before skinning them, and too often the seals are still conscious when this horrible act occurs.

April 10, 2007/© The HSUS

Our work here on the ice floes is nearing an end for the year. We have gathered a tremendous body of evidence to show the inherent cruelty of this hunt. Now begins the challenge of convincing decision makers around the world to take action on behalf of the seals.

Our goal is simple: to ensure this brutality is never allowed to happen again. And this is when we need you the most. For long after the 2007 seal hunt ends, The HSUS will be campaigning to stop this slaughter from repeating.

It is you, our supporters, who are our best weapons in our fight to save the seals. Please remember to tell everyone you know about what the Canadian government is trying so desperately to hide.

The fate of the seals rests in all of our hands. Together, we will not fail them.

Tactics of a Cruel Industry

Yesterday was filled with horror and frustration.

In the morning we flew over the ice floes and watched from our helicopter as more helpless baby seals were shot and clubbed and dragged onto sealing vessels with hooks while likely still alive. So many sealing vessels were moving through the ice, searching out the handful of remaining pups. But it quickly became apparent that almost no seals remain in this area (map). The ice floes are now empty, and the only signs of the pups that were once here are the blood trails left across the ice.

April 10, 2007/© The HSUS

We would typically also see thousands of carcasses discarded on the ice floes. But this year, it seems the sealers cynically decided to do their best to hide the grim remains of this slaughter. The sealers have kept the dead seals onboard their boats, not throwing the carcasses into the ocean until our cameras are out of view. The site of hundreds of seals - some still moving - stockpiled on each sealing vessel's deck, awash in blood, is one of the most disturbing images I have seen.

As we returned from this gruesome trip, we witnessed yet another of the sealers' tactics to hide their cruel behaviour.

One of the key components of our helicopter expeditions is the ability to refuel at a remote location, close to the hunt. Because our flights to the ice are coming to a close, we spent yesterday afternoon trying to remove extra fuel barrels from the area. But our efforts were halted when an angry crowd of local seal hunters - knowing we use this fuel to get our helicopters to the hunt area - decided to stop us. About 20 carloads of people surrounded us.

The group was clearly enraged. They shouted at us and banged on our truck, telling us to stop filming the hunt. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada's national police force, surrounded our team but said that they could not remove the crowd. After several tense hours, the crowd suddenly left, and we were finally able to depart.

But a half-mile down the road, several alarms began to sound in our vehicle, and we had to pull to the side of the road. Our radiator had been damaged with a sharp implement at the scene. We saw scrapes on the grill of the truck and holes punched in the radiator. Our truck would need to be towed to the nearest town.

April 10, 2007/© The HSUS

As we left the area, we were all frustrated by the loss of the afternoon and the unethical tactics of the sealing industry.

But we know in our hearts that nothing has been done to stop us: we have filmed the 2007 commercial seal hunt, and we have gathered clear evidence that this hunt is inherently inhumane.

In the end, the sealing industry will lose. We have the truth on our side, and, armed with that truth, we move into the final phase of our campaign to shut down this slaughter forever.

Savagery of the Hunt Horrifies Our Team

Words almost fail me right now. What the ProtectSeals team witnessed at the seal hunt yesterday was more than we could bear. So many baby seals, just a few weeks of age and only beginning to moult their white coats, were shot and wounded and left to suffer in agony.

April 10, 2007/© The HSUS

One seal tried desperately to crawl away, leaving a sickening trail of blood behind her on the ice (watch our video footage). For agonizing moments, we watched from our helicopter as she slowly dragged herself toward the water. Finally, the sealers reached the still-struggling pup. Without missing a beat, they impaled her on a steel hook, dragged her across the ice, and pulled her up onto their boat. A sealer threw her body onto a pile of about 50 dead and dying seals, then casually reached for a club and smashed her skull.

Another seal pup that had been shot but not killed was hooked and dragged across the ice while still conscious. The pup was tossed callously onto a pile of dead seals in a boat. Moments later, we saw the seal pup moving amidst the carcasses.

April 10, 2007/© The HSUS

One wounded seal struggled as she was stabbed with a boat hook. Seeing that she was still alive, the sealer stopped and clubbed her ineffectively with a wooden pole - an illegal weapon.

Yet another seal was shot and injured but, as blood poured from him, managed to make it to the edge of the ice, where he disappeared into the water. Though a part of me cheered inside when he evaded the hunters, I know all too well that he will almost surely bleed to death slowly - just one of the countless thousands of wounded seals who endure this fate each year.

There were almost no instances where the sealers obeyed the Marine Mammal Regulations, which require them to check to see if the seals are dead before hooking, dragging and skinning the animals. Nearly all of the seals we observed showed responses to pain as the sealers stabbed their steel hooks through the jaws, skulls and flippers of the pups, and dragged the animals across the ice.   

These were the Newfoundland seal hunters, who claim their methods of hunting are far more humane than those used by Magdalen Islanders (map). But this is a lie. While I have seen a lot of brutal killing throughout my nine years of monitoring this hunt, yesterday's images were among the worst I can remember. The sealers knew they were being filmed, but didn't even attempt to obey regulations. And, as usual, there were no government enforcement officers in sight.

April 10, 2007/© The HSUS

We are all in shock right now, trying very hard to deal with the savagery we witnessed. After all, this is a hunt that my government has the gall to describe as "98 percent humane."

It is said that you cannot wake a man who is only pretending to be asleep, and I can't think of a more fitting statement for the government representatives who continue to defend this slaughter. Every year that we film these gruesome images, we provide our footage to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. They see the same thing we do. Still, they choose to promote this brutality and then attempt to cover it up by blocking legal observation.

The Canadian government is about to fail - and fail badly - in its mission to defend the indefensible. As angry and horrified as I am right now, I know that the scenes we witnessed and filmed today are irrefutable proof that Canada's commercial seal hunt is inherently inhumane.

Today we will return to the scene of these crimes, to gather more evidence that will help shut down this brutality forever.

Rules Governing Hunt Are Ignored

Yesterday, the commercial seal hunt continued in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence, without witnesses, as bad weather kept our helicopters grounded for the second day in a row.

The high winds also forced sealers departing from the western coast of the Island of Newfoundland (map) to retreat back to their harbours. We take some consolation in knowing that the storm blocked these Newfoundland sealers from reaching the hunt for a day. But the boats are likely on their way to the ice floes this morning.

Our team was understandably feeling quite low yesterday as the hunt continued without us there to observe. It is unbearable to think of what happened. We have seen the killing firsthand and know what these seals are going through. There are few people that can bear to watch what we do, and I am grateful for our team's strength.

April 5, 2007/© The HSUS/Glover

We witness horrible acts of cruelty during this slaughter each year - forms of cruelty that clearly violate Canadian law.

The Marine Mammal Regulations that govern the seal hunt require a hunter using a club to confirm that a seal is dead by performing one of two tests - a blink reflex or skull palpation - before he skins that seal or strikes another seal. But on Saturday, our team documented hunters rushing from seal to seal without performing either test, clubbing each animal just once before hurrying to the next, then hooking conscious seals and dragging them across the ice.

This is not the first time our team has witnessed illegal activity at the seal hunt. Over the past few years, The HSUS and other animal protection groups have documented and submitted video evidence of more than 700 apparent violations of the Marine Mammal Regulations to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Each year our evidence grows, but not a single charge has been filed by the government in response.

What we're witnessing is no humane or sustainable hunt. It is a massive and unnecessary slaughter; it is government-sanctioned cruelty.

Hunt Continues Without Mercy

This morning we awoke to howling winds and freezing rain. Our pilots confirmed our worst fears - we would not be able to fly for the entire day due to bad weather. What we saw yesterday was so devastating; to know it continues today, without witnesses, is heartbreaking.

Yesterday brought home to us all how horrible this hunt really is. So many of the pups being targeted were almost entirely covered with white fur, meaning they were just a couple of weeks old. Yet the hunters were shooting and clubbing them to death without mercy.

April 7, 2007/© The HSUS

My blood runs cold as I watch these animals so new to this world die for nothing but fashion. The seal pups are so young, and it is crystal clear they do not want to die. The seals try desperately to crawl away as the hunters run toward them. But the pups are utterly helpless, and there is simply no escape from these men who are so much larger and faster.

As the sealers raise their clubs, the pups turn and make a pathetic stand, rearing their small heads back and crying. But the clubs smash down each and every time. Yesterday, more often than not, those clubs struck the pups in their face or jaw, instead of their skulls, only intensifying the cruelty. Without missing a beat, the sealers stabbed the pups with metal hooks and dragged them, still struggling, across the ice floes.

I try hard every year to understand the motivations of these hunters. I know they believe that because their parents and grandparents hunted seals, they have the right to follow suit. They do not see anything wrong with what they are doing, and they are determined to keep this industry alive, even though it contributes to just a fraction of their annual income.

I grew up in this world, but I see it from another perspective. As I witness grown men beating to death defenseless baby seals, I do not see tradition and I do not see a historic industry. I see cowardice.

April 5, 2007/© The HSUS/Glover

Cowardice that my government has the gall to proudly defend as an acceptable activity in this century. But when you strip away the Canadian government's carefully crafted PR lines, all you are left with is a grown man versus a baby seal, the violence of the kill, and the red-stained ice left behind. As I watch this brutality, I cannot help but wonder how those industry spin doctors personally justify their actions. Perhaps they have never bothered to find out what it is they are promoting.

Tomorrow the boats from Newfoundland will arrive in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence (map). When the weather permits, the ProtectSeals team will be there. 

Cruelty Up Close: See Today's Footage

Watch my video report from the fourth day of Canada's cruel seal hunt in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence (warning: graphic footage).

Brutality Below Us

April 7, 2007/ © The HSUS
Today I witnessed this baby seal,
just a few days old, being clubbed
to death.

We woke up at dawn, anticipating today's weather report from our pilots. But as soon as we saw that the sun was shining, we knew we could return to the hunt area.

There are no words to adequately describe the brutality we witnessed today.

We approached an area where seal pups still covered in white fur were scattered across broken ice pans. Sealing boats were moving fast towards them. The utter helplessness of our situation, hovering above in our helicopter as we watched, was unbearable. We could only film as the sealers bore down on the unsuspecting pups.

The sealers didn’t even make a pretense of adhering to the Marine Mammal Regulations. They jumped onto the ice pans, running across the ice to club each seal just once before moving on. Without checking to ensure the seals were dead, they stabbed the still-struggling seal pups with boat hooks and dragged them onto the boats. There, the sealers cut open the pups and peeled their skins off, tossing the bloody carcasses into the sea.

April 7, 2007/© The HSUS

It never gets any easier to witness this horror. Each year I hope the impact will lessen. But it doesn’t. How could anyone ever become desensitized to the beating to death of a 3-week-old helpless baby seal? I know the ProtectSeals team never will, and we will be here to bear witness as long as this hunt goes on.

We all need to do more. I’m asking you to tell everyone you know about what is happening here on the ice floes – ask them to visit protectseals.org to find out how to join our efforts to shut this hunt down for good. Please help us ensure this is the last brutal hunt we will ever have to witness.

Weather Grounds Us, Hunt Goes On

More frustrating news has come this morning.

April 4, 2007/© The HSUS

We woke at 5:30 a.m., ready to depart for the ice floes. But our pilots called with bad news: a storm front is moving in to this area, and for the next few hours at least, our helicopters will be unable to fly. 

Just 45 miles off of Canada's East Coast, seal hunters are clubbing and shooting the seal pups with no witnesses. Here, the ProtectSeals team is tense, willing the weather to clear. Documenting this slaughter is a tremendous logistical undertaking - and our success depends on so many factors beyond our control. This year has been particularly difficult, with the Canadian government trying its level best to block observation and the hunt occurring in very remote areas. Right now, we all need some luck.

April 5, 2007/© The HSUS

Yesterday's trip to the seal hunt was devastating. We saw so many sealers clubbing seals on the side of the face or the neck instead of their skulls. Others were shot but not killed, and they were left to suffer. So many animals were still struggling as they were hooked and dragged across the floes.

Fisheries officials were stationed on a Coast Guard vessel in the area, but we did not see them monitor the hunting. Instead, they stopped us, and told us to move even farther away because our presence was "upsetting" the sealers.

It has become clear over the years that my government has claimed our Canadian oceans for the sealing industry. Although my family still lives in this province, I do not have the same rights as a seal hunter when in Newfoundland waters. A hunter buys a $5 permit and is free to hunt for the season without interference. To observe the hunt, I must obtain a $25 observation permit, which must be renewed every day. I am subjected to a criminal background check, and the permit is issued at the whim of our Minister of Fisheries and Oceans - a Newfoundlander who is openly biased in favour of the seal hunt.

Without witnesses, the seal hunters can continue to brutalize these pups without repercussion. The seals deserve our best efforts. So when the weather clears, we will return to the seal hunt area immediately. We are all standing by waiting for the next weather update.

Bearing Witness to Cruelty: See Today's Footage

At dawn today I flew over a peaceful landscape; by afternoon, it was a bloody, open-air slaughterhouse. The carnage I witnessed over the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence was a contrast to yesterday's eerie stillness. Yesterday, after several flights over the ice floes, we saw no seals or boats. Today, sealers attacked thousands of seal pups, who had no chance of escape on broken pans of ice. Watch our footage: