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.