Michael Fabricant has joined Roger Gale MP, President of the Conservative
Animal Welfare Group, in condemning the resumption of the Canadian Seal
Cull on the ice floes off Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.

Michael Fabricant who is a member of the Group says: "This barbaric
practice is carried out under the guise of ‘protecting the fish stocks’ but
is, in fact, a licensed slaughter of baby and vulnerable seals to provide
pelts for the fur trade. The method of ‘execution’, by hakapik, is brutal
and imprecise. Observers are told that ‘the seals die instantly’. In many
cases they do not. Roger Gale has seen for himself on Prince Edward Island
that still alive, the baby seals are dragged, by the hook on the hakapik, to
a central pile to be skinned. The corpses are then left to rot or to be
eaten by marine life as the ice floes melt later in the year. It is a lie to
suggest, as is often said, that ‘the whole animal is used’.

"In Canada the seals are classed as ‘fish’ and the hunt is referred to as a
‘catch’ or even a ‘harvest’. In reality, the hunt is savage and has no
place in civilised society. In the past, the Canadian High Commission has
been courteously responsive to expressions of concern and the Canadian
Government sensitive to world opinion. As a result, real progress appeared
to have been made. Clearly, this is not the case.

"If people are concerned about this, they should write and protest to the
Canadian High Commissioner at the Canada House, Trafalgar Square in London
SW1Y 5BJ and make their views clear" adds Michael Fabricant.