Director and photographer Nigel Barker’s documentary look at the Canadian seal hunt - A Sealed Fate? - is showing November 18th in New York City to benefit The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). British born, Barker is perhaps better known in some circles as a fashion model, photographer and judge on the popular television show America’s Next Top Model. However, he is also an award winning photographer, a film director, Humane Society spokesperson and a compassionate and committed animal rights’ activist. In early 2008, he traveled to the ice floes off the coast of Canada's Eastern Gulf of St Lawrence shore to film the birth and ensuing hunt (12 days later) of the Harp seal pups.
We caught up with Nigel Barker in New York for a quick telephone conservation and to ask a few questions about the making of A Sealed Fate? and for his thoughts on what it will take to stop the seal hunt.
So, when did it all begin?
I was approached to become the spokesperson for HSUS for their seal program – replacing Paul McCartney – some big shoes to fill. He is still involved but stepped aside for personal reasons. I felt very strongly about this. I have been interested in animal rights since a child. I really identified with the HSUS for their work, it actually started in the UK, but I didn’t want to just use my celebrity status. I wanted to use my trade as a photographer – I wanted to document what was going on with the seals. If people are going to listen to me giving fashion criticism on the television, I want them to also listen to me about the seals and about fur. I wanted to make people aware about the seals.
There is no hunt – the seals are 12 days old- they are babies still - they can’t swim and they can’t feed themselves. It is important that people understand there is no ‘hunt’.
Can you tell us a bit about A Sealed Fate?.
It is a story of celebration – I didn’t want to just tell the horrors of the seal hunt, we wanted to also show the beauty of these creatures during the beginning of their life. We don’t show too much graphic footage – just at the end of the film – in the last 3 minutes or so.
Why did you make the film?
This was a real labor of love, I wanted to do it. I paid for it myself so I didn’t have anyone telling me what to do – I just wanted to get the story out there. As a result we were able to call the shots.
We will see where things go in the future with the film. We don’t have a distributor yet, but we have some people interested and some people have been calling over the last few days. But, we will also do what it takes to get the information out there. We will put the film on YouTube or wherever we need to – just so people can see the film.
When people see what is going on – they can make an educated decision about the hunt. These animals can’t talk for themselves; we need to raise our voices for them.
What was involved in making the film?
We made several trips to the ice – with photographers, etc. My entire team went up there – it was minus 32 Fahrenheit and the conditions are quite extreme and dangerous. You can be there for the birthing, but you have to stay more than 1 nautical mile away from the hunters so we had to use really long photo lenses during the hunt.
Was it confrontational doing the filming?
I felt it was a bit confrontational, we interviewed locals in the town and they wouldn’t talk with us publicly, but they would whisper off the record that they didn’t support the hunt. 75% of the people who talked to us didn’t support the hunt, but the irony is that they didn’t realize they weren’t alone, that everyone around them also felt the same way.
The hunters don’t like that you are there filming.
If someone was beating a seal to death on the streets of Toronto there would be nation-wide outrage, but it is somehow OK to do this on the ice when nobody sees it.
Was it a difficult film to make?
It wasn’t easy. I had to do what it takes to get the images, but it was horrific. I don’t meet violence with violence. This is what is so great about the HSUS – they take a very adult approach to animal activism. They go to Capitol Hill, they lobby the government and they make changes that are permanent and democratic.
What do we need to know about the seal hunt?
There are several things about the hunt that are horrific that most people don’t know.
There is no hunt – the seals are 12 days old- they are babies still - they can’t swim and they can’t feed themselves. It is important that people understand there is no ‘hunt’.
The weapons used are called hackapicks (or hakapik) - a heavy club with a spike on the end. In spite of modern technology, the hunters still use them. The hunters choose not to shoot the seals even though they can – as the are charged for each hole in the pelt, they choose to use the hackapicks.
When they kill the seal pups, they hit them on the cranium, these small heads, the hunters are meant to check if they are dead, but I only saw one guy check a seal in the entire time I was there.
The seals need to be 12 days old to be hunted. They are babies still – they cannot swim, they cannot feed themselves. I was there for the birth. I was there on the day of the hunt and many of them still had their white coats and some were transiting to grey. It is hard to tell which seals are 12 days old. The guys hunting them are 18-25 years old – they are young men doing a part-time job, they are not veterinarians.
Only the pelts are kept. The carcasses are just discarded – there is blood everywhere – their carcasses are just left on the ice – the hunters kill about ¼ million seals in 2 days.
Some seals are skinned alive. We saw seals being skinned alive, they were writhing on the ice - it was the most obscene thing.
If someone was beating a seal to death in the streets of Toronto there would be nation-wide outrage, but it is somehow OK to do this on the ice when nobody sees it.
Is there a problem with too many seals or humans consuming too many fish?
First of all, the seal population has remained fairly consistent, within reason, since they have been keeping records of the
seal population. But the fishing stock is seriously depleted, could it be that we are overfishing? We know we humans are the result of overfishing – in Canada and globally. It is not the seals eating all the cod; we know that we overdo things.
The Canadian government thinks it is their right to kill seals because they have been doing it for so many years. We need to speak up.
A Sealed Fate? screens November 18th, 2008 at AMC Loews Theatre, 1230 Third, New York, NY 10021 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $25 and all proceeds will benefit The Humane Society of the United States.
HSUS: http://www.hsus.org/
Stop The Canadian Seal Hunt: http://www.hsus.org/protect_seals.html
Nigel Barker: http://www.nigelbarker.tv/blog/index.php
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