Myth - It is illegal to kill baby seals

Fact 85% of Canadians define a baby seal to be under one year of age. Today, more than 95% of the seals killed in the hunt are under 3 months of age. And while harp seals are protected until they shed their white coats (at about 12 days of age), one hundred sealers (including one third of the 1996 Executive and a former President of the Canadian Sealer's Association) have faced charges for illegally selling the skins of protected seal pups.

Myth - The hunt is humane

Fact Over the past five years, the International Fund for Animal Welfare has submitted video evidence of more than 660 violations of the Marine Mammal Regulations - including the dragging of conscious seal pups across the ice with sharpened boat hooks, the stockpiling of dead and dying animals, beating and stomping seals, and skinning seals alive - to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. To date, not a single charge has been laid in response.

In 2002, an international team of veterinary experts attended the hunt. They observed sealers at work from the air and from the ground, and performed post-mortems on 73 seal carcasses. Their study concluded that up to 42% of the seals they examined were likely skinned alive.

Myth - The hunt is important to the economy of Atlantic Canada

Fact According to the industry's own figures, commercial sealing only accounted for 0.06% of Newfounland's GDP in 1997, and provided the equivalent of only 100-120 full-time jobs. In the past seven years alone, more than $20 million has been provided to the sealing industry through government grants and interest free loans. It is estimated that the total value of the seal hunt to Atlantic Canada equals the annual revenues of one McDonald's outlet. Moreover, the seal hunt badly tarnishes Canada's international image - putting at risk other legitimate industries, such as tourism.

Myth - Canadians are in favour of the seal hunt

Fact According to an Angus Reid Group poll released in September, 1997, 85% of Canadians oppose the killing of seal pups under a year old, 82% object to the trade in seal penises, and 75% oppose government subsidization of the hunt, including a majority of Newfoundlanders.