Canadian cruel seal hunt to continue

Canadian seal hunters are the most infamous in the world for their cruel killing of seals by using hakapiks and rifles. Canada's been slaughtering between 270,000 and 335,000 seals annually in the past three years, and according to the latest statement issued by Canada's new fisheries minister Gail Shea Canada will continue this cruel killing habit because Shea said she doesn't plan to ban the hakapik, one of the cruelest fishing tools.

Hakapiks are being used for cruel killing of thousands of seals

However things could change as European Union has issued the proposal that threatens to ban seal products as early as 2009, under which there would be a ban on importing seal products that are coming from countries that "practice cruel hunting methods". This especially applies to Canada as many anti-hunt campaigners believe that Canadian seal hunters are the cruelest in the world.

Canada's seal hunting practice is anything but "consistent with high animal-welfare standards where animals are killed without undue suffering", which is EU's definition of acceptable hunting practice. Whether Canada will accept these new hunting practices still remains to be seen, though there are many environmentalists that doubt progress on this territory. It is more likely that EU will allow exception for Canada's hunting methods than Canada using different hunting methods. And seals? Their suffering will continue.