ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Animal rights groups are fuelling up for today's start of the East Coast seal on the ice floes of the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence.
It will be the only real opportunity this year for hunt opponents to get the visual images they need to fuel their campaign to stop the annual slaughter on the ice.
The Canadian government decided earlier this week to prohibit observers during the opening days of the hunt in the southern Gulf.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Humane Society says they've been told they can send out two of their three helicopters.
On board will be reporters from as far away as France and South Korea. Last year, the society had difficulty getting helicopters refuelled and, at one point, Aldworth and her companions were trapped in a hotel for several hours by angry local residents.
Members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans will also be observing the hunt in the northern Gulf.
