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Sealers Speak Out! Extreme Cruelty at the Hunt!

The following is direct testimony from sealers, taken by Department of
Fisheries and Oceans staff. It was obtained through Access to
Information laws, and contains graphic descriptions of animal cruelty.
To date, seven charges have been laid as a result of the
investigation, but only one had resulted in a court hearing.

Notes:

� The use of 22 caliber rifles to shoot seals has been outlawed for
humane reasons - the guns are not powerful enough to kill seals
quickly.

� When mothers are killed and their newborn pups abandoned on the ice,
there is no chance of survival for the pup. In every case, the baby
seal would have starved to death slowly.

"Prior to March 8/98 most females were killed with the pup inside
them. I seen seven pups threw over the side after the female was
pelted. I took two out myself. Me and another sealer even agreed that
this was shocking and there should be another way to hunt seals. We
were in the whelping on March 10/98 because I observed that eight of
tens pans of ice had young pups with the after birth and other debris
from the birth on the ice. There was once I can remember the young
seal watching his parents being hoist aboard. He watched the boat as
we steamed away. The pups were not killed but left by themselves on
the ice."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, June 10/98

"I did see some mother seals killed and the pup fall out on deck still
alive. (Deleted) told me to throw it overboard and I did. It crawled
up on a pan of ice. The mother was full of milk, the milk ran out on
deck when the pup fell out."
Sealer's statement, taken by Cyril Furlong, Department of Fisheries
and Oceans, June 24/98

"I was present when female Hood seals were pelted and did see pups
fall out of the female on deck. I seen this happen twice and know that
it happened eight to ten times during the first trip. I knew this
happened because of conversations with the crew. The two pups that I
saw on deck were alive. The pups were threw over board and on one
occasion I did see one of these pups swimming in the water. I don't
know what happened to the pups."
Sealer's statement, taken by Cyril Furlong, Department of Fisheries
and Oceans, July 3/98, 15:33 hrs

"I seen a female being pelted and the pup came out of her when they
cut her open, the pup was dead. This seal was killed for a while. This
was on the day we got one hundred and seventy. Someone passed the
comment, 'If Green peace were only here to see this.'"
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, June 22/98, 15:15 hrs

"We did take female Hoods and leave the pups on the ice. I was on deck
when a pup fell out of a female Hood seals and I pelted the seal along
with two other crewmembers. I can't recall who they were. The pup was
alive when it fell out. I killed the pup and threw it over the side."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, July 6/98, 3:51 pm

"We were hunting for adult seals and on several times we took the old
seals and left the pups on the ice. The Hood seals pupped while we
were out there hunting. We did take seals before they had pups on one
occasion. I did see a pup fall out on deck while the female was being
pelted. This pup was alive and it was threw overboard. The pup was
alive and swimming in the water. The pup crawled up on the ice."
Sealer's statement, taken by Cyril Furlong, Department of Fisheries
and Oceans, July 6/98, 11:11 AM

"My job was pelting seals and using the gun. I was present when the
female Hood was being pelted and young pup fell out of her onto the
deck, This happened eight or ten times. There were lots of comments
made for example, 'If we only had a video camera we would make a
fortune' and 'We should never be allowed out killing them'"


"There were lots of times that the male and female were killed and
taken on board and the pup left on the ice, sometimes the pup had
blood on it as it was just born. We had approximately five hundred and
fifty seals for the trip, approximately four hundred were hood seals
of which at least one hundred and fifty were females."


"The seals were always in a net bag in the speed boat, when they were
hoist on board there were numerous 22 caliber rifle casings among the
seals. They were often kicking around the deck of the longliner, I
seen the observer Rex Hodder pick them up and throw them over aboard.
He had to know that the 22 guns were being used. They even make a
different sound to the heavier gun. There was an effort to hide these
guns from Rex Hodder. They were passed down through the vents in the
engine room. They were kept in cases while in the two speed boats. We
landed something over three thousand seals fro the trip. We got in
somewhere around the 21st of April, 1998. I don't think that the 22
caliber rifle is powerful enough to kill even a beater seal. I often
seen seals alive after we hoist the seals them out of the speed boats.
We would finish them off with a hakapik."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, June 24/98, 19:40 hrs

"All the females we took, the pups were left on the ice. The pup was
left on the ice after the female was killed and taken on board."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, July 14/98

"Sometimes he told me to kill the make and female and sometimes to
kill the male only. The pup was always left. It seemed he told me to
kill everything when seals were scarce. Sometimes the seals were not
that old because there was blood where they were born."


"At the end of the day everyone would lend a hand pelting seals. There
were two or three cut out of the female while she was being pelted,
they were killed and threw over aboard. There was a lot of talk as to
weather this was right or a good thing to be doing. Everyone was aware
of it."


"The best day we done, we took approximately one hundred and eighty.
We wee taking make and females that day and this was towards the end
of the trip. There were a lot of pups around and they were all left on
the ice. The following day we killed some females that were
accompanied by the male and pup."


"The four of us were present when the pups were cut out of the female,
(deleted) were aware of this also. We had approximately eight hundred
seals for the trip and about one quarter or better would be females."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, July 10/98, 19:15 hrs

"During the second trip we left fifteen or twenty pups alone after
taking the family. There were mistakes made by killing pregnant female
hoods, this happened approximately six times but they never came out
on deck. I am an experienced sealer so I knew they were pregnant. We
were not saving the meat so the pup went over aboard with the
carcass."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, August 11/98, 16:50 hrs

"There were a few occasions when we took the make and female Hood
seals and left the pup on the ice. I observed on two occasions for the
trip pups falling out of the female while being pelted on deck. The
two pups I observed were alive and were thrown over the side. I seen
these pups crawl up on the ice after we threw them over aboard."


"I probably killed three to four hundred seals with the 22 caliber
rifle�There was conversations between the skipper and myself and the
crew to make an effort to hide the 22 rifles from the observer."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, June 29/98, 10:45 hrs

"After the females were pelted and pups fell out onto the deck the
pups were thrown over the side. I did see a couple move around in the
water behind the boat. They appeared to be alive and swimming. We
watched a seal that came out of the old one on deck try to get up on a
pan of ice. It did not get up to my knowledge. This did bother me to
see seals flapping around in the water and trying to get up on the
ice."
Sealer's statement, taken by Fergus Foley, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, June 28/98, 16:30 hrs

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Cheerio

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for signs of activity: Black bear scat is smaller and contains berries;
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