Cruel Whale And Seal Hunting Deemed ‘Essential Activities’ During Coronavirus Pandemic
Canada, Japan and Norway are among the countries that are allowing the controversial hunts to continue despite lockdown measures.
Hundreds of thousands of seals, and thousands of whales, will be killed over the next few months as whaling and sealing continue as normal despite lockdown measures that allow only ‘essential activities’.
Norway has set a kill quota of 18,000 seals and 1,200 whales for their ‘essential’ operations, whilst Japan is set to kill 200 whales during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
"It's disturbing to think that while all over the world people are making extraordinary sacrifices to stop the spread of COVID-19, whalers and sealers are carrying on with their bloody business as usual, risking infection spread amongst crews and their families”, says Claire Bass, the executive director Humane Society International (HSI).
Campaigners have also highlighted how these hunts are supported - and made viable - through public tax-payer funds.
"There is dwindling demand for the products of commercial whaling and sealing operations, and these inhumane industries are only viable because of tax-payers' money, so it's extremely difficult to see how these can in any way be considered 'essential' activities during lockdown," Bass explains.
Among the other hunts set to continue is Canada’s annual commercial seal hunt, which HSI singles out as the “largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet”.
Canada’s infamous hunt sees guns and clubs used to slaughter hundreds of thousands of seals every year. The majority of these victims are harp seal pups, who are likely to be no more than three months old at the time of their death.
Elsewhere in the world, bullfights, foxhunts, and horse racing are among the events that have been forced to stop indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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