Documentary “Huntwatch” Follows Activists Opposing Canadian Seal Hunt

by April Neale / Monsters and Critics

https://youtu.be/DbtqfoyjSgQ

The shame of mass slaughter of sea mammals and creatures not only lies with Denmark (Faroe islands Grindadráp), Norway and Japan.

Canada’s brutal seal hunt has put into motion Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds, who is part of Discovery’s new film Huntwatch premiering in September.

The documentary is narrated by the Canadian actor and created by the International Fund for Animal Welfare with Discovery.

Discovery Channel will air it on September 22 under their Discovery Impact banner, immediately following a theatrical release.

Most everyone can recall the first time they saw a clubbed baby seal — white fur, red blood on snowy ice floes.

The filming of the hunt is done with an unblinking eye as Reynolds shares facts about the practice which many people have credited for the start of the modern animal welfare movement.

Over forty years ago, Canadian sealers were slaughtering baby harp seals for their valuable white fur.

After witnessing the brutal practice for himself, Huntwatch’s main character Brian Davies devoted himself to saving the seal populations in Canada.

He launched the International Fund for Animal Welfare in 1969 to protect and preserve animals. In the process, he has been charged at and assaulted by sealers hell-bent on protecting their right to kill.

This film is a sobering chronology of his fight to end the commercial seal hunt in Atlantic Canada.

There is much misinformation out there, that the practice is a conservation measure and that baby seals are no longer hunted. Not true.

This tumultuous history has plagued the East Coast Canadian commercial seal hunt, which the majority of Canadians oppose.

Tragically, fur is in again and people in the Far East especially are snapping up fashions with seal trim.

Discovery Channel EVP John Hoffman said: “Like most people, I thought the horrendous practice of clubbing baby seals for fur ended a long time ago.”

Watch the trailer for Huntwatch below.