A French journalist denouncing the hunting of baby seals, then it is prohibited since 1987 in Canada

AFP

Jean Balthazard

Thursday, 22-feb-2018 15:16

UPDATE
Thursday, 22-feb-2018 15:33

Look at this article

The French journalist Aymeric Caron protested to the show Daily against the hunting of canadian baby seals, while the practice is prohibited since… 1987.

Man of 46 years who had come to present his new political party took the opportunity to decry a situation that he deems unacceptable. “They [the Canadians] have taken over the hunting of baby seals, which is a scandal absolute. It has been intensified”, he launched on the airwaves of the broadcast of infotainment.

Aymeric Caron has certainly not taken the trouble to do a quick Google search before his intervention, since he would have found on the website of the department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada that the “hunt small harp seals (whitecoats) and small hooded seals (bluebacks) has been prohibited in Canada since 1987”. The ministry has confirmed to HuffPost France that the revival of this practice has never been permitted since the late 1980s.

The image of the baby seal has been used over and over again by the organisations for the defence of the rights of animals, even after 1987. And besides, who says “baby seals”, said Brigitte Bardot. The French star, a long-time advocate for animals, at the time had posed for Paris Match on the ice in the gulf of St. Lawrence in the process of hugging one of these little beasts. The image still appears today on the website of the Foundation Brigitte Bardot dedicated to animal protection. There is, however, no mention that the hunting of whitecoats has been banned for over 30 years.

Bad appellation

According to the government of Canada, the seals, such as those of Greenland, can be aged barely 25 days when they were driven out. The proponents of this activity vary, however, these comments by stating that it is not to the extent of baby seals.

“There is not a baby seal. A baby, it is a character specific to the human. “Veal” and “puppy” are the terms scientific and literary correct to name the seal being born,” explained the film maker Raoul Jomphe at HuffPost France.

The author of one of the only documentary on the seal hunt and its critics states that”in three weeks, the animal became a teenager in full possession of his means. It has become a predator that is no longer dependent on its mother”.

On the website of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, it is stated that “the hunting of grey seals and harp is permitted when the seals have lost their first coats and are autonomous”.

The Association of sealers intra-Québec, which is also attached by the web site in French, laments that “the media repeat the lies of the anti-use for half a century”.

“For us, the wonder would be that they start to check their sources and stop playing the public relations consultants for animalistes who claim to be environmentalists as they affect both the biodiversity and people that depend on them,” added the association.

In 2016, approximately 66 000 harp seals and 1600 grey seals were hunted in Canada, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada.