Canada begins controversial seal cull

Sealers took to the thawing ice floes off the Atlantic Ocean today, the first day of Canada’s contentious seal hunt, which animal rights activist claim is barbaric and not economically worth the bad publicity.

The fishermen in the isolated island communities of Quebec and Newfoundland say the world’s largest seal hunt supplements their meagre winter incomes, particularly since cod stocks have dwindled dramatically since the mid 1990s.