All three populations [of Harp Seals] are hunted commercially, mainly by Canada, Norway, Russia and Greenland. In hunting terminology, Harp Seals are often given different names according to their age:

* Whitecoats: Birth
* Ragged jackets: 2-4 weeks
* Beaters: 4 weeks to 1 year
* Bedlamers: 1 to 4 years
* Spotted harp: 4 to 7 years
* Dark harp: mature/adult

In Canada, the season for the commercial hunt is from November 15 to May 15. The majority of sealing, however, occurs in late March in The Gulf of St. Lawrence, and during the first or second week of April off Newfoundland, in an area known as “The Front”. This peak spring period is generally what is referred to as the “Canadian Seal Hunt”. [...]

In 2006, 325,000 Harp Seals, as well as 10,000 Hooded Seals and 10,400 Grey Seals were killed.

So, yeah, “whitecoats” (or harp seals), like the one pictured above, most certainly are hunted.

As to whether seals can be hunted “humanely”, I think it’s fundamentally inhumane to kill an animal needlessly (i.e., without just cause, such as self-defense or euthanasia for a dying animal), no matter the method you use. Those seals need their skin more than we do.

Also, a study out of the EU just before Christmas confirms that seal hunting can be done humanely and that the vast majority of seals in Canada are taken humanely every year.

Go ahead and oppose the hunt, but stop lying about and misrepresenting the facts while you do it.