Abstract
FROM March 7 to 9, I visited the Gulf of Sfc Lawrence, Canada, to investigate the methods being used to hunt newly born harp seals, Pagophilus groelandicus, for their fur. I conducted post-mortem examinations on the carcases of a random sample of 154 newly born seals which had been killed by hunters working from ships and from light aircraft in Gulf area district 2 (south of 50° N. latitude and west of a line from Channel Head in Newfoundland to Scatari Light, Scatari Island., off Cape Breton Island). The prescribed method of killing is hitting the animal on the forehead with a wooden club which has to conform to certain specifications as to length and diameter (Order in Council PC 1967–87 of January 19, 1967, Ottawa, Canada). Fifty thousand newly born harp seals, or “whitecoats” as they are called, are taken in Gulf area district 2 annually by hunters working from ships and aircraft.
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SIMPSON, E. Seal Hunting in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Nature 214, 1274 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/2141274a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2141274a0
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