According to the Federal Government of Canada, the hak-a-pik is a “humane” tool used by seal slaughterers. After smashing in their skull with the blunt side, the reverse, armed with a sharp spike, is used to impale the head and drag the lifeless body with ease.

If this is such a humane tool, why isn’t it allowed on other animals, and just the baby seals? Why is Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams and Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik calling for a ban on the hak-a-pik spiked club? The hak-a-pik is “a real image problem for us,” said Okalik. And why were two Europeans jailed and deported for simply “witnessing” this cruel yet “closely monitored and tightly regulated” activity.

“The thing we’re being accused of doing is allegedly being within half a nautical mile of someone skinning a seal alive, and for that Canada deports us,” said Peter Hammarstedt, 23, the first officer of the anti-sealing vessel, the Farley Mowat. It seems all so reminiscent of the Costa Rican government’s response when they set out to protect the illegal Shark finning in the documentary Shark Water.

Hopefully now that the global audience has witnessed Canada’s acceptance of this brutality and inhumane treatment of living beings, the public will wake up and move to ban the treacherous act.

Sad but true Seal Facts.

• Almost half of harvested seals are skinned alive
• The average price of a seal pelt on the 2006 pelt market fetched sealers $97, who is buying them? In 2005 Norway purchased 6.7 million, Greenland 4.0 million and finland 1.9 million.
• The Federal Government of Canada allows 287,000 seal kills each year. Out of that, a mere 6,860 are for personal hunters or “Aboriginal initiatives”. The remaining 280,000 go into the pocket of private corporations.