New rules coming for Canadian seal hunt

OTTAWA, March 10 (UPI) -- New rules for Canada's annual seal hunt to make the process more humane are due out this week, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported Monday.

Federal Fisheries Department spokesman Phil Jenkins told the newspaper the new protocol will require hunters to sever the arteries of seals under their flippers to expedite the death process after the animals have been shot or clubbed .

"When a seal is bled, it is going to be, for sure, dead," Jenkins said.

Also this week, Canadian Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn is due to announce the quota for this year's hunt, the report said. Last year, hunters were allowed to take 270,000 harp seals, of an estimated harp seal population of 5.5 million.

The Conservative government has been reviewing hunting rules since 2005 when a veterinarian group called for the bleed-out process. The newspaper said the changes were announced as the European Union is due to debate imposing a ban on seal products this month. Last December, the European Food Safety Authority issued a scientific opinion that said seals can be hunted humanely but in reality are sometimes left to die slowly in pain, the report said.