NOVA SCOTIA GREY SEALS BETRAYED BY
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT FOR THIRD YEAR IN A ROW
Hay Island to become open-air slaughterhouse for third year
Alert Date: 2 February 2010

Grey seal pups - photo HSI Canada

Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced yesterday that Hay Island will be opened to commercial sealers for the third year in a row. Beginning Monday, February 8th, Cape Breton sealers will descend on the protected wilderness area, herd together and bludgeon to death 2,220 defenceless baby grey seals.

NS fishermen beating grey seal pups to death with wooden bats on Hay Island in 2008
- photo HSI Canada

Hay Island, part of the Scaterie Island Protected Wilderness Area in Cape Breton, was the scene of a horrific mass slaughter in 2008 when Nova Scotia fishermen armed with crude wooden bats and boxcutters descended on the island and within just a few short days had bludgeoned to death over 1,200 grey seal pups just a few weeks old. The slaughter on Hay Island marked the first time the killing of grey seal pups in Nova Scotia was witnessed and documented by a third party. Humane Society International and Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition were present on the island and distributed to the public videotape evidence of the cruelty involved in the grey seal hunt.

Whitecoat watches helplessly as pup's carcass is dragged past
- photo HSI Canada 2008

In 2009 the Minister of Environment again allowed commercial sealers to invade Hay Island with a quota of 2,200. HSI Canada and Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition were on stand-by to bear witness to the killing but DFO colluded with industry to conduct the slaughter in secret. That year, sealers could not locate buyers for the seal skins, so they slaughtered 250 pups for use as fabric swatches for alleged potential buyers.

Recently Nova Scotia's Environment/Fisheries Minister Sterling Belliveau rushed through with obscene haste legislation which amended the Wilderness Areas Protection Act to allow commercial seal hunting on Hay Island without the necessity of permission from the Environment Minister. Not only was this bad news for seals; it set a dangerous precedent for any commercial industry to access our wilderness areas and provincial parks.

Last week I, together with a representative from Humane Society International / Canada and Animal Alliance of Canada - met with Nova Scotia's Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau to ask that he cancel the 2010 Hay Island grey seal slaughter. He refused. He claimed to have studied the matter, yet did not even know the basics of the issue, had not reviewed the killing footage from 2008 and did not know that the method of killing was deemed inhumane in a recent report. He could not give a valid reason for allowing the slaughter to occur this year and it was obvious there was only one reason: a Cape Breton sealer wanted to kill baby seals.

In just a few days from now, thousands of defenceless grey seal pups in the provincially-held Protected Wilderness Area will be savagely bludgeoned to death with clubs by a crowd of untrained fishermen who bitterly blame the seals for the sad state of fish stocks. As a further insult to Canadians, our tax dollars will be used to fund the slaughter.

DFO's own scientists say there is no direct evidence that seals negatively impact cod stocks, and they simply do not know if reducing seal populations will aid in cod recovery. Seals eat a variety of fish, most of which are not commercially fished in Canada. Cod accounts for only 2% of their diet. In fact, seals eat predators of cod, which is beneficial to cod, not detrimental.

Grey seal - photo HSI Canada

I write this with a heavy heart. I was present on Hay Island two years ago and witnessed the horrific cruelty inflicted on the defenceless pups. What I saw and heard on that horrible day still haunts me. I know what fate awaits this year's pups, who are at this moment happily lazing in their nursery grounds, calling to their mothers and to each other, unaware of the impending horror that is about to begin. I know all too well the horror, and it breaks my heart.

But we must not give up. Our efforts to reason with the Nova Scotia Minister of Environment/Fisheries failed, but we are not daunted. We WILL end the killing of grey seals in protected areas. Please take action now to help us reach that goal.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Please take a moment to send an email to Nova Scotia's Minister of Tourism to express your disgust that the government allows seals to be slaughtered in protected areas and provincial parks. Tell him seals are worth far more alive than dead. Seal-killing will lead to harsh tourism boycotts. Seal-watching would be a boon to Nova Scotia's tourism industry and economy. Please send a copy to Premier Rodney MacDonald, Sterling Belliveau, NS Minister of Environment and John MacDonell, NS Minister of Natural Resources. Please also send us a bcc of your email, and any responses you receive from the Minister.

Terrified pups were herded together and beaten inches from each other - photo HSI Canada 2008

Everything you need is on this page - names, email addresses and suggested email text. Please feel free to use the text as is, adapt it to your liking, or draft your own. Please remember that personalized letters work best. Please remain polite in your email, as profanity or threatening language will cause your email to be deleted.

Whitecoat pup, one of the few survivors left on Hay Island in 2008 - photo HSI Canada

Thank you for taking the time to speak on behalf of the thousands of defenceless grey seal pups who face a grisly fate at the hands of Nova Scotia fishermen this year. These pups have no voice and rely on us to speak in their defence. We must protect them and urge the Nova Scotia government to do its duty and protect all life in Protected Wilderness Areas.