The Seal Fishery.com - Canadian harp seal hunt

19 October 2006 – German parliament votes unanimously to ban Canadian seal products.

The following are the reasons given by the Bundestag for banning Canadian seal products;

1. Conservation; seal population is threatened by climate change, habitat destruction and fisheries by-catch as well as the hunt.

There is no scientific evidence to prove one year of bad ice conditions experienced in 2006 will have a serious impact on a harp seal population of almost 6,000,000. There is no basis to claim habitat destruction when the habitat of the harp seal, during birthing and mating, changes from year to year depending on said ice conditions. Granted, it is likely global warming will have an impact on the conditions but there is no scientific research to say how much of an impact. Recently, there was a study done on fish populations which show a decrease in the seals food supply. What are the effects going to be of an uncontrolled harp seal population on their dwindling food supply? Unlike animal rights groups, I am not going to guess what these effects will be without sound scientific evidence. When one considers this recently released report and the logic of German politicians, one must feel a German ban is imminent for all seafood producers worldwide.

2. Killing methods; the animals are skinned alive.

Such a claim is an insult to all Canadians. To believe a civilized people such as those who live in Canada could be capable of skinning animals alive is a true representation of the German view of Canada and Canadians. Such an accusation is unfounded and has no basis in fact. There is no proof to back this claim other than a 2001 report paid for by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). It has been proven in court the IFAW, on three different occasions, has paid individuals to skin animals alive so they could video tape it.

In 1968, the United States government organized a task force which included the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to research more visually pleasing and possibly humane techniques for killing seals than the traditional stun and bleed technique. In the early 70s the United States government asked 16 institutions to experiment with different killing methods. The techniques tested over both studies were; captive bolt system, carbon asphyxiation, acoustical shock, chamber techniques, decapitation, electrocution, gaseous anesthetics, gunshot, impaction techniques, individual administration of gases, injected drugs, thermal destruction of brain function and ultrasonic and laser systems. In both studies the conclusion was that all alternate methods tested were not adaptable to the hunt or were less humane.

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