Hunters who club the juvenile aquatic mammals on Atlantic Canada’s late-winter landscape will be lucky to be paid a quarter of what they received two years ago, due to a slump in the fur market and an expected ban on seal products in the European Union.
The Ottawa-based International Fund for Animal Welfare, an animal-protection organization, welcomed the development.
“Of course, we are pleased," fund researcher Sheryl Fink said in a statement. “If market conditions ultimately lead to the demise of this inhumane slaughter, that's fine by us.”
Despite poor market conditions, Canada has authorized the hunters to kill as many as 280,000 of the seals this year.
The seals are hunted mainly for their pelts, but their meat and fat are used in such items as beauty products.