Two veterinarians from the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown spent two weeks this year teaching sealers in N.L. how to kill seals humanely.

'I use a lot of pictures.'— Pierre Ives Daoust, veterinarian

The workshops were offered to ensure hunters understand the new three-step process introduced last season — a process which is required by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to ensure a clean a kill of the seals. Hunters have to kill the animals by first smashing the skull, then feeling the skull to make sure it is crushed, and then bleeding the animal.

When the seal hunt begins in a couple weeks in Atlantic Canada observers from around the world will be watching for any signs of cruelty.

Pierre Yves Daoust, a wildlife pathologist with the vet college, travelled with graduate student Charles Caraguel to seven N.L. communities over the course of two weeks holding day-long information sessions.

"I use a lot of pictures," said Daoust.

"I would use pictures of skulls that I would have collected myself because I've been on the ice a few times. So I would collect skulls that have been completely crushed and I collected skulls that have only a few fractures, so I can show that to the sealers."

Other Canadian vets presented seven further workshops in Îles de la Madeleine and the lower north shore of Quebec.

Daoust was part of an international panel of veterinarians that looked into humane sealing practices, and recommended these new procedures.

Daoust said attendance was high, with about a quarter to a third of all sealers going to the voluntary sessions.

"Those I've talked to are more aware of issues of animal welfare than many members of the public at large, because the animal rights people have reminded them constantly."

The workshops were paid for by the governments of N.L. and Quebec and organized by the Fur Institute of Canada. Daoust hopes to put on more workshops before next season.