ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The premiers of Newfoundland and Nunavut are calling for a ban on the use of the hakapik -- the spiked club that is one of the most contentious symbols of the Canadian seal hunt.
Danny Williams and Paul Okalik met in St. John's, where they said they were writing to Ottawa to ask for a ban.
The tool, first developed by the Norwegians, has been used for years to bludgeon seals to death and drag their bodies over the ice.
For those opposed to the annual slaughter off Canada's east coast, the hakapik symbolizes the cruelty of the hunt.
Okalik, who has just returned from Europe where he was trying to counter negative publicity surrounding the hunt, said getting rid of the club would make a huge difference in how the hunt is perceived.
Off the north coast of Newfoundland, where 70 per cent of the seals are killed each season, the vast majority of hunters use rifles.
But Rebcca Aldworth, spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States, said banning the hakapik is just a "cynical ploy.''
Aldworth said the East Coast fishermen who hunt seals are, for the most part, not sharpshooters and the use of the rifle is just as inhumane and cruel as clubbing with a hakapik.
"Some of the worst examples of cruelty that we filmed this year were sealers shooting at seals, wounding them and the seals suffering in agony, crying out, bleeding and writhing in pain on the ice,'' said Aldworth, who has just returned from documenting this year's hunt.
"Rifles are every bit as inhumane as hakapiks and clubs.''
Aldworth said the politicians are not at all concerned about the welfare of the animals clubbed to death by hakapiks.
"In their minds, this is just about improving the way the hunt appears.''
The premiers drafted the letter Tuesday and Williams said he will raise the issue in the legislature.
It's the second time Williams has called for a ban.
In 2006, Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn responded by saying he would look into banning the tool, but he stressed that there was no obvious alternative for hunters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Unlike hunters in Newfoundland, those in the Gulf of St. Lawrence often work very close to each other, making hunting with guns more dangerous.
