A deal for the seal

IN A move that has
raised eyebrows
among animal rights
activists, Canada
called off the seal
hunt on its east coast
a few weeks ago. The
opponents of the
hunt suspect that the
decision was
taken because hunters
had exceeded
their quotas. The
official explanation is
that hunters had shot
nearly their
entire quota in record
time, aided by
favourable ice
conditions. The department of fisheries and
oceans (DFO) had
launched the seal hunt
claiming that
their growing numbers
were threatening the population of
cods. Meanwhile,
the quotas for seal
hunters and subsidies for seal meat were
increased.

The DFo apparently
stopped the
hunt when it was found
that the
hunters had killed at
least 16,500 of the
less common hooded
seals, more than
double the quota. The
hunting figures
for the more numerous
harp seals
stood at 120,000.
According to Arthur
Cady of the
International Fund for
Animal Welfare, the
cutting short of
the hunt indicated that
"The sealers
were obviously out of
control".