H. Res. 427 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
July 30, 2007. 
Whereas on November 15, 2006, the Government of Canada 
opened a commercial hunt for seals in the waters off the 
east coast of Canada; 
Whereas an international outcry regarding the plight of the 
seals hunted in Canada resulted in the 1983 ban by the 
European Union of whitecoat and blueback seal skins 
and the subsequent collapse of the commercial seal hunt 
in Canada; 
Whereas the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 
U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) bars the import into the United 
States of seal products; 
Whereas in February 2003, the Ministry of Fisheries and 
Oceans in Canada authorized the highest quota for harp 
seals in Canadian history, allowing nearly 1,000,000 seals 
to be killed over a 3-year period; 
Whereas more than 1,000,000 seals have been killed over the 
past 3 years; 
Whereas harp seal pups can legally be hunted in Canada as 
soon as they have begun to molt their white coats at ap-
proximately 12 days of age; 
Whereas 95 percent of the seals killed over the past 5 years 
were pups between just 12 days and 12 weeks of age,
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many of which had not yet eaten their first solid meal or 
taken their first swim; 
Whereas a report by an independent team of veterinarians in-
vited to observe the hunt by the International Fund for 
Animal Welfare concluded that the seal hunt failed to 
comply with basic animal welfare regulations in Canada 
and that governmental regulations regarding humane kill-
ing were not being respected or enforced; 
Whereas the veterinary report concluded that as many as 42 
percent of the seals studied were likely skinned while 
alive and conscious; 
Whereas the commercial slaughter of seals in the Northwest 
Atlantic is inherently cruel, whether the killing is con-
ducted by clubbing or by shooting; 
Whereas many seals are shot in the course of the hunt, but 
escape beneath the ice where they die slowly and are 
never recovered, and these seals are not counted in offi-
cial kill statistics, making the actual kill level far higher 
than the level that is reported; 
Whereas the commercial hunt for harp and hooded seals is 
a commercial slaughter carried out almost entirely by 
non-Native people from the East Coast of Canada for 
seal fur, oil, and penises (used as aphrodisiacs in some 
Asian markets); 
Whereas the fishing and sealing industries in Canada con-
tinue to justify the expanded seal hunt on the grounds 
that the seals in the Northwest Atlantic are preventing 
the recovery of cod stocks, despite the lack of any cred-
ible scientific evidence to support this claim; 
Whereas two Canadian government marine scientists reported 
in 1994 that the true cause of cod depletion in the North
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Atlantic was over-fishing, and the consensus among the 
international scientific community is that seals are not 
responsible for the collapse of cod stocks; 
Whereas harp and hooded seals are a vital part of the com-
plex ecosystem of the Northwest Atlantic, and because 
the seals consume predators of commercial cod stocks, re-
moving the seals might actually inhibit recovery of cod 
stocks; 
Whereas certain ministries of the Government of Canada 
have stated clearly that there is no evidence that killing 
seals will help groundfish stocks to recover; and 
Whereas the persistence of this cruel and needless commercial 
hunt is inconsistent with the well-earned international 
reputation of Canada: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives urges the 
Government of Canada to end the commercial hunt on seals. 
Attest: 
Clerk.