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IF YOU thought that fox hunting, banned throughout Britain since last year, was beyond the bounds of acceptable behaviour towards animals, consider this: any day now Canadian hunters will start their annual slaughter of some 300,000 harp seal pups. Over the past three years, nearly a million seals have been clubbed and shot for their fur, with tens of thousands more – according to the Canadian government – left gravely wounded.

I have a long-standing involvement in animal welfare matters, but this issue stirs colleagues who care little about fox hunting or docking dogs’ tails. Like them, I am motivated primarily…

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