69% of Canadian voters oppose commercial seal hunt

Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Ottawa, Canada
With only some six months remaining before Canadians go to the polls a 1,000-person national survey conducted by Environics Research for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) shows that 69 per cent of Canadians holding an opinion are opposed to Canada's commercial seal hunt.
"When it comes to the commercial seal hunt, this poll shows that opposition literally starts on the doorsteps of Parliament Hill and extends across the country," said IFAW Canada’s Director, Olivier Bonnet.

Opposition to specific aspects of the seal hunt was even higher with some 77 per cent of voters, stating an opinion, calling for a ban on the killing of seals under three months of age and 78 per cent opposed to government subsidies for the hunt. Seventy-eight per cent felt that killing seals by clubbing them is inherently cruel.

Only 4 per cent of respondents stated that they would be very upset if the hunt were ended.

Patrick Ramage, IFAW’s international Director of Communications observed, "It's high time the Canadian government admitted that Canadians have no real interest in seeing their tax dollars go to support the clubbing of seal pups."

The survey, conducted between July 7 – 18, 2005, is considered accurate to within 3.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

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