Clash at seal hunt

last updated 8 January 2015

Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada

Canada’s annual East Coast seal hunt got off to a raucous start last week, with several clashes between seal hunters and animal-rights activists. Hunters threw seal guts at activists, who were attempting to videotape the hunt. When several sealing vessels swerved toward protesters’ small, inflatable boats, one small boat was rammed and damaged. "We’re so frustrated by them," said one seal hunter, who said the seals represent the hunters’ livelihoods. Sealers took 3,000 seals on opening day, less than the 5,000 they’d hoped for. Because of unusually thin ice, hunters had to shoot seals from their boats, instead of employing their preferred method of striking them with spiked clubs.