What types of weapons are used to kill seals?
Sealers in the Magdelen Islands (Gulf of St. Lawrence) and on Quebecs Lower North Shore, where about 30 per cent of the hunt occurs, use both rifles and hakapiks. Sealers on the ice floes on the Front (in the waters east of Newfoundland), where 70 per cent of the hunt occurs, primarily use rifles. A hakapik is an efficient tool designed to kill the animal quickly and humanely. Marine Mammal Regulations state that sealers must strike the seal on the skull until its crushed, and administer a blinking eye reflex test or manually check the skull.
