article_snippet.sent: Horrifying images taken only yesterday show seals being shot and wounded before they are dragged onto a vessel - where they clubbed to death for their fur.
article_snippet.sent: Photographs of this year's commercial hunt off the coast of Newfoundland were captured by animal rights charity Humane Society International (HSI) who say the baby animals 'are dying a violent death for fur products that nobody is buying'.
article_snippet.sent: Humane Society International has captured shocking images of seals being clubbed to death on Canada's ice floes (pictured) as this year's 'commercial hunt' gets underway .
article_snippet.sent: The baby animals (pictured) are suffering a violent death 'for fur products nobody wants' according to Humane Society International .
article_snippet.sent: HSI's executive director Rebecca Aldworth said: 'This is the 17th year that I have witnessed the seal slaughter.
article_snippet.sent: It is reprehensible that these baby seals are being killed with government financing, even as the largest seal processor in Canada admits to warehousing a stockpile of seal fur.'
article_snippet.sent: The Newfoundland government has authorised the killing of up to 468,000 harp, hooded and grey seals, according to HSI. 
article_snippet.sent: The Newfoundland government claim the seals - many of which are just a few weeks old - are shot, clubbed and skinned for The Newfoundland government fur despite a decreasing global demand for their fur.
article_snippet.sent: Killing: Even Sir Paul McCartney who visited a seal nursery with HSI in 2006 has made an emotional plea for Canada to stop the seal hunt (pictured) Unforgiving: The animals are slaughtered in a remote region off the coast of Newfoundland (pictured) - HSI says if the killing happened in view of the public 'the killing would have been shut down decades ago
article_snippet.sent: Veterinary experts claim these baby seals are killed inhumanely in the commercial hunt (pictured) because of the harsh environment in which it occurs and the speed at which Veterinary experts are killed .
article_snippet.sent: Barbaric: HSI's executive director says 'it is reprehensible that these baby seals are being killed with government financing
article_snippet.sent: Government reports found 98 percent of these baby seals (pictured) killed in the Canadian commercial seal slaughter are less than three months of age, according to HSI .
article_snippet.sent: Sir Paul McCartney who visited a seal nursery with HSI in 2006 has made an emotional plea for Canada to stop the seal hunt.
article_snippet.sent: The former Beatle said: 'Canada's brutal commercial seal hunt has begun, and once again thousands of baby seals will be shot and bludgeoned to make fur products that nobody wants or needs. '
article_snippet.sent: Videos of the bloody seal slaughter provide the only vital evidence to demonstrate year after year that thousands of baby seals are dying a horrible death for thousands of baby seals fur.'
article_snippet.sent: It is a double tragedy,' according to HSI spokesperson Wendy Higgins who told MailOnline: 'They [seals] are suffering for frivolous fur products and Canada can't even sell their fur because more and more countries around the world are boycotting sales because of the horrendous cruelty.' '
article_snippet.sent: the seal hunt is legal but that doesn't mean that the killing is always done according to what few guidelines govern the industry and HSI has frequently documented breaches. '
article_snippet.sent: Even if the killing is always done according to what few guidelines govern the industry and HSI did always kill thousands of baby seals according to the rules, it's still a dreadfully brutal process...
article_snippet.sent: Immoral: Even though the seal hunt is legal in Canada, animal rights campaigners say it's still a dreadfully brutal process .
article_snippet.sent: Shocking: Newfoundland's government has authorised the killing of up to 468,000 seals (pictured) this year, despite declining global demand for their fur .
article_snippet.sent: The boss of a company who accepted government funds to continue purchasing sealskin said 'it's probably not a really good time to get in this industry' Death: As many as half-a-million seals (pictured) will be hunted and killed in this year's cull .
article_snippet.sent: Government reports confirmed that 98 percent of the seals killed in the Canadian commercial seal slaughter are pups less than three months of age, according to HSI.
article_snippet.sent: Veterinary experts have stated that Canada's commercial seal hunt is inherently inhumane because of the remote, harsh environment in which it occurs and the speed at which the killing is conducted for commercial and safety reasons.
highlights_snippet.sent: Many seals who are just a few weeks old are shot, impaled and clubbed to death on 'sealing' vessels for Many seals who are just a few weeks old fur .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: 'Many seals who are just a few weeks old are dying a violent death for fur products that nobody wants or needs,' said Sir Paul McCartney who backs the charity who took chilling photographs .
  