Canada Seal Hunt : The War On Bad Information

The seal hunters of the Magdalen Islands denounced the bad information broadcasted by the International Foundation for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

The organization alleged said the hunt was funded by Quebec and that Ottawa decided the quotas by the function of the wholesale value of the seal products.  It was affirmed in a communication that the price of $30 for each pelt payed to the hunters of the Magdalen Islands at the start of the month was a subvention or subsidy of the province of Quebec.

The Vice-President of TAMASU, Paul Boudreau, who bought 20,000 of these pelts, affirmed that these allegations were false.  “It is completely false, the same as the majority of the information which leaves the IFAW. There, we can contradict them completely,” TAMASU has benefitted from an $80,000 subsidy, which he has noted allows the company to follow its research on the heart valves of the seal.

The IFAW confirmed that they said that Fisheries and Oceans Canada decided that the quota that would be authorized would be as a function of the markets, and this was what the authorities of the Minister gave.  They say that this last information highlights that the viability of the herd is at the heart of all the decisions.

The President of the Association of the hunters of the Islands, Denis Longuépée, denounced these tactics used by the IFAW. He precisely said that some members of the organization have gone on to film the hunt around the islands, but that they have not found any infractions in the method of the killings.

Photo: PC/Jonathan Hayward