Canadian Seal Harp Hunting :’|Chris MasonIan Gleisberg

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What are Harp Seals?

• Harp Seals are also known as Saddleback Seals, they belong to the Northernmost part of the Atlantic Ocean and regions near the Arctic Ocean.

• Harp Seals are separated into three populations. The largest population is located off eastern Canada, this group is referred to as the Western North Atlantic Stock.

Why are Harp Seals hunted?

Early Times• Before the explosive

advancement in Technology, the Harp Seal was hunted by Canadian Natives for their fur, meat and bones.– These were utilized for

clothing, food and shelter.• The Natives valued the seals

because they were a large contribution to their survival.

Present Time• Nowadays Harp Seal hunting is

a crude practice.• The past 300 years have been

explosive in the expansion of harp seal hunting. With new purposes arousing such as commercial exploitation. Greed for the profits from seals’ pelts and blubber pushed most men and businesses into supporting the harp seal hunts.

How are Harp Seals hunted?

• Generally hunted with a club to not rupture the skin which would decrease it in value

• Its hardly even a hunt either, the Seal hunters either take a boat to remote ice flows to find them and then walking up to them and clubbing them or if they are unreachable they are shot from the boat, usually in the head which is the part of the fur that’s often discarded when making a pelt.

What parts are harvested

• Harvested for their pelts which are used in coats in boots

• Also the Harp Seal oil found in their blubber is collected and sold in a capsule as a nutritional Supplement. Omega 3’s.

• The penis bone of the male seal is harvested as well generally used as an aphrodisiac to try and cure erectile dysfunction, luckily since the introduction of E.D. drugs the sale of the penis bone on the black market has drastically decreased

How much does Seal fur go for?

• http://www.harpseals.org/about_the_hunt/pelts.php

What is being done to stop it

Europe has made Seal Fur Coats illegalPeople who are against the slaughter boycott

the goodsA lot of people take place with activism

including Puma which makes shoes that look like harp seals to raise awareness

A boycott of Canadian fishingGoods is also in place

Seal Hunting Regulation

• The DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) manages the seal hunt.

• Unfortunately though, the DFO has failed to act upon countless violations that independent spectators such as the IFAW and HSUS.

• Rules of the Hunt.• Its illegal to kill the

white pups• The seals must be at

least molting to be killed which means they are shedding their white downy coat and growing their real fur

YouTube!

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWhOU5iUzKY&feature=related

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-9rbIBprV0

Works Cited

• “Harp Seals” harpseals.org• “Seal Hunting”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_hunting