The images
in the following program
are highly sensitive
and may be
as disturbing to viewers
as they were to us.
However,
we have to show the truth
about cruelty to animals,
praying that
you will help to stop it.
The sealers go out
onto the ice-floes.
And at the time
the seal pups are born
and they’re helpless;
they can’t swim,
they can’t get away.
And they simply club them
over the head
and skin them.
And sometimes they’ve
skinned them alive.
We’ve seen that.
This is
the Stop Animal Cruelty
series on
Supreme Master Television
where today
we present part one
of a two-part series about
the merciless brutality of
the Canadian seal hunt.
Two experts will
share with us their
personal experiences of
witnessing the mass murder
of baby seals
in their nurseries.
Ian Robichaud,
the founder of
Harpseals.org,
is dedicated to putting
a permanent end
to seal hunts.
Using mass media
and grassroots activism,
Harpseals.org seeks
to raise awareness about
the atrocities committed
by the seal industry.
Since 2006,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
has provided
the courageous group
with donations
totaling US$30,000
to further its mission.
Captain Paul Watson,
a co-founder of
Greenpeace International,
and the founder
of the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society
as well as the recipient
of the prestigious
Shining World
Hero Award from
Supreme Master Ching Hai
has devoted
the past 30 years to
protecting and defending
marine life, including seals.
Over 90%
of the seal hunt
occurs off the coastline of
Newfoundland in Canada.
And then there is
another small area called
the Magdalen Islands,
and they’re
in Quebec (Canada).
So this is
all around the Gulf
of St. Lawrence
in eastern Canada.
But the majority of it
happens on the outer coast
of Newfoundland
every year
in the springtime.
So where are
the harp seals born?
The harp seals are
actually born on the ice.
They’re one of
the few species of animals
that literally needs sea ice
to be born on
for their nursery.
So they literally
give birth on the ice.
And the ice can be,
depending on
the weather conditions,
either sometimes very close
to the shorelines of, say,
Prince Edward Island
or some of these islands
that are in the Gulf
of Saint Lawrence
or the shorelines
of Newfoundland,
or it can be literally
a hundred miles offshore.
So the seals go to
wherever the ice is, and
the sealers follow them.
The seals are only
tiny babies, as young
as two to three weeks old
when the sealers head out
in their boats
to begin the massacre.
When the time is right,
when the white fur
of these baby seals
starts to molt off,
which occurs
after about two weeks,
that’s when
the Coast Guard sends
the big Coast Guard cutters
and the sealers literally,
like little ducks following
a big mother duck,
they follow him
right to the places
where they can literally
jump off their boats
onto the ice,
and then they just run up.
They have cleated ice boots
that give them traction,
and they run up
and club them.
They also shoot the seals
as well.
We’ve heard
that one of the tools used
is something called
a hakapik, is that correct?
It’s a really brutal,
grisly thing.
It’s more or less
a baseball bat
with a hook on one side.
And what the hook is for,
they whack the seal
on the head.
They club them, okay,
with this, basically again,
it’s a long wooden stick,
and it’s got a piece of
metal on the end of it.
Some of them do they have
a little chunk
of metal on it, but
then on the other side,
there is like a pick, so
once the seal is whacked
on the head and skinned,
they’re usually skinned
pretty much right there.
But then they use
that pick part for
dragging the seal carcass
to the boat.
They actually skin the seals
pretty much right there
where they club them
and then
they take that hakapik,
it’s really a dragging tool,
so they don’t actually
club the seals
with the pointed part,
but it’s basically a club.
It’s a very vicious,
horrible instrument,
and, and they use it
quite pronouncedly.
In what other way
are the seals killed?
Well, the other way is
by gun.
They use rifles.
Whether they use a gun
or a hakapik depends on
the conditions
or whether their boats
are able to maneuver
between the leads
in the cracks in the ice.
Some years,
the ice is so compact
that the boats are lucky
to get pretty close
to the seal herds,
and then basically
the sealers jump off,
and they can literally
walk by foot.
They can run around
within a quarter mile
from their boat
in all directions,
and they club them
with the hakapiks.
When they can’t get them
with the hakapiks,
they’ll shoot them,
and again it depends on
how closely those boats
can maneuver.
Because some years,
like I said, that ice chunk,
they’re literally little chunks
of ice floating around,
and it would be very
dangerous for a sealer
to try to jump on
a little chunk of ice
because he’d have to
basically be jumping over
open leads of ice.
So what they do
in that case
is they shoot them.
But they prefer
to hakapik them, and
the reason why is because
it keeps the pelt price
at a higher value.
A bullet hole
in the wrong spot
of a seal pelt will cause it
to have a reduced value.
And sometimes they’re
shooting these seals
from a hundred yards,
75 yards.
You can’t get a clean shot,
so a lot of the seals
have holes in their backs
and the sides of their heads.
The shot itself
doesn’t even kill the seal,
and the seal will actually
slither off, and go into
an open lead of the ice
and literally slip
under the ice and die.
Can the baby seals escape?
When they’re super young,
when they’re first born,
they don’t have enough
layer of blubber yet.
They’ll actually
feed profusely
on their moms’ milk for
about the first two weeks.
If they do happen
to slip into the water,
they’ll get hyperthermia.
Most of the seals killed
are literally
between two weeks
and about three months.
Most of these guys
are so young,
they don’t know
what’s coming at them.
There is no natural predator
that still exists, (Right.)
except for
human beings out there.
So what happens is
these hunters walk
right up to them, and
I don’t even call them
hunters by the way;
I would like to
retract that word;
they’re killers.
Because they walk,
literally walk right up
to an innocent baby seal,
and the little seal
raises up its little head,
like he doesn’t know
what’s going to happen,
and the guy just whacks him
right on the head.
It’s a brutal thing;
I’ve seen it close-up.
And the sealers show
absolutely no mercy; it’s
vicious and unbelievable.
I can’t describe it;
it’s horrible.
If you’ve seen the pictures,
you know
it’s really, really horrific,
but no mercy is shown.
Is the mother around
during this
and what is her reaction?
Yes.
The killing of the seals
is in the nursery,
so the mothers
are there present when
the babies are killed!
It’s one of
the most heartless hunts
if you can call it a ‘hunt’,
anywhere in the world.
Well, the mother is around.
All the seals
don’t give birth
exactly at the same time.
They give birth
over the course of
about a month and a half
to two months even.
Most of them happen all
within about a month,
So, there’s
some mother seals
that will be nursing
their baby “whitecoat,”
whereas another
mother seal might
have given birth,
say, two weeks earlier,
where her baby has now
molted and become
legally “clubbable.”
They actually molt
that beautiful white,
famous fur into it’s called
a “beater” stage,
but where they literally
look like little baby
silver leopards; they’re
really, really beautiful.
And that is
when the Canadian
government legally
classifies them as
adult seals, even though
they’re a month old,
three weeks old,
and that is when
they’re “clubbable”
They don’t actually
club the seals for
their white fur anymore;
they used to.
But there’s been a ban
on the white coats
since 1983.
But as soon as
that fur starts to molt,
they kill them.
They are in fact being
killed in front of mothers
that are very, very nearby.
So, it might be that
the mother doesn’t know
that her baby is being killed,
but another mother
20 feet away,
(Is watching.)
will be able to see this.
They call it a ‘hunt’, but
really it’s just a slaughter,
a massacre
of these animals.
And fortunately,
on the Canadian
seal hunt side of it,
we’ve gotten
the European Parliament
to ban seal pelts
and that’s significantly
lowered the number of seals
that are being killed.
But you know,
this is the 21st century,
there’s no reason for
clubbing these animals
over their head
for their pelts.
Whales, seals, fish
are more valuable
in the oceans
than they are,
being used by us.
What they do is
maintain the integrity
of oceanic ecosystems
and the message that
we’re trying to get across
is that if the oceans die,
then we die.
My name’s
Captain Paul Watson
with The Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society.
Be Veg,
Go Green
2 Save The Planet.
Many thanks
Ian Robichaud
and Captain Paul Watson
and the members of your
respective organizations
for passionately working
to end the seal slaughter.
Bloodshed and violence
has absolutely no place
in our world and you are
both model examples
of love and kindness
to animals.
To halt sealing
and other forms
of animal exploitation,
may we always say “NO”
to all animal products.
For more information
on these seal protection
organizations,
please visit
the following websites:
Harpseals.org -
www.Harpseals.org
Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society -
www.SeaShepherd.org
Please join us next Tuesday
on Stop Animal Cruelty
for the conclusion
of our program on
the Canadian seal hunt.
Thank you
for your presence
on today’s show.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
after Noteworthy News.
May we forever live
in peaceful harmony
with all animals.
The images
in the following program
are highly sensitive
and may be
as disturbing to viewers
as they were to us.
However, we have to
show the truth about
cruelty to animals,
praying that
you will help to stop it.
This is
the Stop Animal Cruelty
series on Supreme Master
Television
presenting the conclusion
of a two-part episode
about the merciless
brutality of
the Canadian seal hunt.
If you ever wondered
if hell exists, just go into
those massacre houses
or the boats that kill
the whales and go to the
seal-massacring areas.
Go there to find hell,
then you’ll believe that
hell will exist.
It’s horrible.
It’s absolutely horrible
how we behave
as humans.
It’s unimaginable.
The more we do research
into all this animal
treatment, the more we
cannot imagine how we,
as a human race, are
behaving in such a way.
My God! Oh, my God!
We must change,
we must change fast.
We can’t live like this,
we can’t.
We just can’t go on
like this.
It’s just killing our heart.
The yearly
seal hunt season for Harp
and Hooded seals
begins November 15
and ends May 15.
The majority of
the seal murdering occurs
between March and April.
In March the focus
is the Gulf of
St. Lawrence around
the Magdalen Islands
and Prince Edward Island.
A month later,
the carnage shifts
to the waters northeast
of the province
of Newfoundland.
Today Ian Robichaud,
the founder
Harpseals.org,
will continue to discuss
the violent slaughter
of baby seals,
many of whom are
a mere three weeks old
when they die.
Harpseals.org seeks
to raise awareness about
the atrocities committed
by the seal industry.
Since 2006,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
has provided
the courageous group
with donations
totaling US$30,000
to further its mission.
We asked Mr. Robichaud
about the skinning process
for pelts.
So once the seal
has been murdered,
do they move them to
where they’re skinned?
Or do they skin them
right there?
Or do they move them
to the boat?
How does it happen?
They ideally want to
skin them right there.
If they get out of
their boat
or if they find a little pod,
a little nest of seals,
they might find
a little grouping of 20
or 30 of the baby seals.
And these babies
have reactions.
Some of them run.
Some of them will
actually come toward
a sealer, and
they can’t do anything.
Some of them will
just hide there.
Well, they don’t run,
but they crawl away
on the ice.
So, what the sealers
do is, sometimes,
and this is really brutal,
they’ll go in with that
hakapik (club) and
because they don’t want
the seals to go over
the edges and maybe
into little places where
they won’t be able to find
them, they’ll just whack
them over the head,
as many as they can,
to stun them.
So they’ll whack them
over the head,
one or two whacks, 20
or 30 seals at one time;
it’s one of the most
horrific things
you could possibly see.
Two sealers sometimes
come into a pack of
40 seals and they’ll just
smash them on the head
to make sure
nothing is moving; and
then a lot of these seals,
of course,
they’re not dead after
one or two whacks.
And then they come back
and they’ll skin them.
But if there’s just one seal,
they’re going to whack
them and skin them
right there, right then
and there.
So the baby might not
even be dead
when they skin it?
A good portion of
the time they’re
actually not dead.
The sealers themselves
are required by ridiculous
animal welfare laws,
humanity laws if you will,
they’re supposed to
make sure that the seals
are actually dead.
They’re supposed to do
this ridiculous thing
called an “eye blink”
test, where they’re
supposed to be able to
put their finger on the eye
of the seal, and
if it doesn’t blink,
that means it’s dead.
But, in fact, more than
40% of these seals are,
in fact, alive
when they’re skinned.
There was a study
conducted by IFAW
(International Fund
for Animal Welfare).
These scientists went into
the piles of dead seals
after the sealers
had been there.
In other words, they just
leave those seals
right on the ice.
And what they did was,
they looked at
the craniums,
the skulls of these seals
and they looked for
fracture marks.
And they determined,
43% hadn’t even shown
any cranial fractures.
So therefore,
they basically were,
in fact, skinned alive.
Not only that, but
there have been many,
many videos clearly
showing seals being
skinned while they’re
still moving around.
It’s something that
the sealers almost seem
to enjoy; it’s a bizarre
spectacle of violence.
And it’s hard to imagine;
it really, really is hard
for anybody to imagine.
A pet dog your family cat
being skinned literally
right there,
and someone sort of
smiling and laughing
as they’re doing it.
So they no longer feel
any compassion
for the animal?
They’re so desensitized
by this stuff;
they are so desensitized.
There have been a few
books written by people
about the sealers and
about what makes them
get into it.
A lot of these sealers
get into it because
their family did it,
because their daddy was
a sealer, their brother
was a sealer before them.
But what I had heard
from the book that I read,
it was written by a sealer,
it was called
“Over the Side, Mickey.”
He was actually
describing the very first
time that he killed a seal.
He found it horrible;
it was horrible to do.
How do people
kill animals
in slaughterhouses?
It’s the same thing.
It’s a desensitized
brain thing. I don’t get it.
I could never do it;
I don’t understand it, but
they literally do not feel
any empathy or sympathy
whatsoever for the seals.
How is the baby seal
skinned?
With a sharp knife.
And they do it with
a few cuts and it takes
about 30 seconds
to skin a harp seal.
What’s so brutal is that
a lot of times, again,
they’ll stun the seal,
then they make some
very crucial cuts
around the flippers,
and they literally tear
that skin right off.
And a lot of times
the body is still twitching.
I mean it’s brutal.
I’m not trying to gross
you (Right.) out
by saying (that).
But literally
the body is twitching.
It’s just literally had
its skin ripped right off
before it’s dead.
Some of them are dead
again; (it) depends on
how many times
they whack them.
Less than three percent
of the meat, annually,
is taken.
And on some years,
it’s probably even
less than that, because
literally, yes,
once they skin it,
they don’t care.
With some of the meat,
it gets used
in the pet food industry.
The male harp seals
are killed as well and
there’s a market
for their genitals?
There is a market;
it’s a black market.
While the sealers are
out there, if they happen
to encounter a pod of
males, the males
all gather in one spot.
They’re not usually
mixed in with the females
and the babies.
They’re usually
hanging out separately.
But if a sealer encounters
a male or a pod of males,
they’re not shy
about killing them.
There’s no one
to regulate this stuff.
And of course
there’s no mark.
They just take that.
A seal penis bone is like
a bone, and then
that’s actually used
for an aphrodisiac.
It’s similar to the
tiger bone or rhinoceros.
It’s used
in Asian medicines.
Surely if people could see
this massacre happening,
the public would react.
Is this not being filmed
and shown to people?
Are there restrictions
on filming?
Well absolutely and
this is really the biggest
obstacle that all anti-seal
hunt organizations
like ours face.
And this is what
this whole fight is really
all about, because
the sealers want to
keep it out of sight,
out of mind.
There are major, major
obstacles to filming.
There are laws that
make it illegal for people
to film the seal hunt.
You can only shoot
a camera within
a quarter mile
from the seals.
Then a couple of years
ago, it was
within 30 meters.
I’ve actually been
assaulted by sealers who
were walking toward me
on the ice, coming at me
saying, “You’re
within 30 meters.
You’re breaking
our laws,” while I had
a camera rolling on them
while they were doing
their thing.
But it’s illegal.
And I actually have been
arrested on the ice
for having a camera.
We know that celebrities
such as Paul McCartney
have been taken to the
seal hunt and shown this.
What effect has this had
on people’s awareness?
Celebrities are huge.
We absolutely love
celebrities.
And looking into
the camera, I can tell you
right now, if you’re
a celebrity out there,
we want you.
We need you.
Paul McCartney
was awesome.
The Humane Society of
the United States had
the opportunity to bring
Paul up there, and they
went on CNN Larry King
that night.
That was absolutely huge.
So even if you are not
as big of a celebrity
as Paul McCartney,
we want you to
please help us.
Let us make you famous
for helping the seals.
You don’t have to
even volunteer for
Harpseals.org,
you could do it for
Sea Shepherd,
you could do it for HSUS
(Humane Society of
the United States),
I don’t care.
But get your celebrity
name out there
for the seals because
you will do a lot to
actually stop the sealing.
What can the average
individual do?
The average person
can boycott
Canadian seafood.
How does that work?
Why are we boycotting
Canadian seafood?
The reason that works
is because all the sealers
are actually fishermen
95% of the year,
and 95% of their income
(Right.) is by fishing.
(Yes.)
A small fraction of
the year they go out and
they kill these seals.
So what we are doing is
we’re pressuring the
entire Canadian seafood
industry to stop
the seal hunt.
And so we’ll tell people,
boycott Canadian seafood,
that way you are directly
affecting the pocketbook
of the actual guys
who are going out there
killing (Right.) the seals
and eventually, those
people are going to say,
“Enough is enough.”
Our deep gratitude
Ian Robichaud,
Harpseals.org,
and other similar groups
for standing up
for the Canadian seals
by reporting to the world
how they are being
sickeningly killed.
We call on everyone
across the planet to shun
all animal products,
including those
from seals like seal fur
garments, seal meat
and seal oil, so
the vicious seal industry,
and other industries that
savagely exploit animals,
are shut down forever.
Hi there, my name is
Ian Robichaud.
I’m the founder of
HarpSeals.org.
You’re watching
Supreme Master
Television.
Be Veg,
Go Green
2 Save the Planet!
For more details on
Harpseals.org,
please visit
www.Harpseals.org
Thank you for joining us
for today’s Stop
Animal Cruelty program.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
after Noteworthy News.
May the precious seals
and all other animals
enjoy long
and peaceful lives.