Canada Is The Only Player Left In Its Game

The whole scenario is grim: an adorable, white as the snow around it, baby Harp Seal pup with bulging black eyes that seem to elude innocence {check out the pic I have below} is beaten until its tiny head cracks open all over the snow it once lived on. Canada my not be a problematic country to its' neighbors but it does like to participate in probably the worst human to animal act in the history of the planet.
This year many countries have decided to make this market a thing of their past. The European Parliament committee has endorsed a bill to ban the import of seal products and Russia has put out an age restriction on the seals making it illegal to hunt a 'pup' under the age of one. But Canada has taken the initiative to increase the overall number of pups seals allowed to be killed claiming that the Harp Seal is over populated in their country.
There is hope in the air for the Harp Seal, "It's clear to me that change is in the air. This is my 11th year documenting the commercial seal hunt and I feel fairly confident that this may well be the last year that his slaughter goes on," Rebecca Aldworth, director of Humane Society International Canada, said. "There is a growing perception that this is a dying industry. Now is the time for the federal government to take action to gracefully end this hunt by compensating the fisherman involved and allow Canada to stop a controversy that has haunted us for more than four decades." Read More: MSNBC.

Russia Basically Bans The Hunt For Harp Seal Pups

Not long after the first ruling that states seal pups that are less then a month old is prohibited, a second more modified ban was put in place. No young Harp seal can be killed that is under the age of one. (Note: Harp seal pups are nearly fully grown at one year.)

"This bloody hunting is from now on banned in our country as in most developed countries. This is an important measure to preserve Russia's biodiversity," states the person responsible for the new law, Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutrev.

This law comes at a crucial time for the Harp seal pups with numbers declining 60% in the last five years. The ban is due as a response to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticised remarks calling the killing of seal pups a "bloody practice." Source.