Research Document - 2004/072

Consideration of the use of the .22 caliber rimfire Winchester magnum cartridge for instant killing of young harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus)

By Daoust, P-Y, Cattet, M.

Abstract

The harp seal hunt in Atlantic Canada is the largest seal hunt in the world. Depending on ice conditions, young seals (beaters) are either killed with a rifle, with the shot aimed at the head, or by one or more blows to the top of the skull with a long wooden club (hakapik). According to many sealers, the types of rifle and ammunition currently authorized by the Marine Mammal Regulations of the Fisheries Act for this hunt are unnecessarily powerful for the size of the animals targeted. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an ammunition of lower power, the .22-caliber rimfire Winchester magnum cartridge (.22 magnum cartridge) to cause instantaneously lethal injury to the head of a beater. Intact heads collected from twelve beaters euthanized on the ice were shot under standardized conditions. Based on the damage caused to the skull under these conditions, we consider the .22 magnum cartridge to be sufficiently powerful to kill beaters in a humane manner when they are hit in the brain case from a distance of 40 m or less. However, as compared to ammunition of higher power, it may be more likely to injure a beater than to kill it instantaneously when hit elsewhere than in its brain case. Other factors, such as human safety and the hunter's marksmanship, may also need to be considered in the decision to allow or not the use of the .22 magnum cartridge. However, from an animal welfare perspective, a precautionary approach would suggest that this type of ammunition be not used during the harp seal hunt.

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