Campaigners Kept Away from Canadian Seal Hunt

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THE BIGGEST seal hunt for more than half a century will start today in Newfoundland out of public view because, the Canadian authorities allegedly refused to co-operate with animal rights activists wishing to document the slaughter.

Campaigners estimate that today and tomorrow, more than 140,000 baby harp seals will be either clubbed or shot to death by 3,500 fisherman in a hunt driven by an increased worldwide demand for seal pelt products.

This year's seal hunt in Canada, in which 350,000 animals will be killed, has created the sort of international controversy last seen two decades ago when a global outcry against the slaughter in effect ended the seal skin …