Club-wielding hunters attack conservationists

Canadian sealers used clubs to attack a group of conservationists who were taking photographs and videos of the annual seal slaughter this week.

This is according to Herbert Henrich, the Cape Town-based adviser to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society - a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting marine wildlife and their habitats - that monitors and documents the slaughter every year.

Henrich told Sunday Argus that 10 crew members of Sea Shepherd's ship Farley Mowat had been arrested and had been kept on board the Canadian Coast Guard ice-breaker in handcuffs.

"The Canadian government has also refused to lay charges against the sealers who attacked the crew."

Paul Watson, the founder of the society and captain of Farley Mowat, wrote on his website that the Canadian department of fisheries had said the hunt was humane and every seal had died instantly.

"That is clearly not true."

A video of the assault on his crew had been sent to the police, he said.

"It vividly illustrates the hostility and aggressiveness of the sealers in their attack on the Farley Mowat crew".