| | Graphic video: New 'humane' rules won't stop clubbing of baby seals
 The Canadian government has introduced new regulations for its annual seal hunt, which has roused world-wide protests amid highly-publicized videos of cute baby seals being clubbed to death. However, activists call the measures "meaningless."
"We believe that this is a desperate attempt to make it look as though the hunt is slightly more humane," one animal rights activist told CNN.
The new regulations, designed to force sealers to check that the animals are dead before skinning them, apply only to seals over one year old, which account for just a tiny fraction of those killed.
In the 1970's and 80's, protests led to a collapse of sales and stiffer regulations, but in the last five years the hunt has revived. The New York Times reported in early 2004, "Canada has lifted the quota to a rate unheard of in a half century, buoyed by new markets in Russia and Poland. ... That trend is making an extraordinary jump this year, when the federal government will allow the killing of up to 350,000 baby harp seals, or more than one in three of all those born."
An official Canadian government website insists that the hunting of seal pups remains illegal and that "the seals that are hunted are self-reliant, independent animals." It also claims that seals are not really being skinned alive, because a study has shown that after death they continue displaying a "swimming reflex ... similar to the reflex in chickens."
The Canadian government frankly admits the latest move was made under threat of a ban against importing seal products by the European Union and its member nations, which could take effect at the time of next spring's hunt. Such a ban could cost the industry half of the yearly $13 million value of the hunt.
When the Canadian government announced similar changes last March, the International Fund for Animal Welfare objected that "these 'rule changes' are obviously designed to deceive the world that this inherently cruel hunt can be made humane, and to forestall a ban on trade in seal products currently under consideration by the European Commission. ... Over 224,000 seals were killed in last year's hunt, 98.5% of which were under three months old."
Enforcement of the new regulations, which might involve the use of surveillance cameras mounted on helicopters and an anonymous tip line, may also cost millions to both hunters and taxpayers.
Sealer Wayne Dickson says, "They're catering to the animal protesters and they've got to do something, you know, to make it look like they're actually on their side."
This video is from CNN.com, broadcast Dec. 29, 2008.
WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT
Download video via RawReplay.com
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