Paul McCartney and Wife Visit to Save Seals

Musician Paul McCartney and his wife, Heather Mills McCartney, took to the frigid ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in a bid to halt Canada’s annual slaughter of weeks-old seal pups.

Animal rights activists contend that the killing of the baby seals, who are often clubbed to death, pierced with boat hooks or skinned alive, is cruel and unnecessary. Fishermen say they badly need the income.

The McCartneys traveled in helicopters with a dozen journalists and members of the Humane Society of the United States and the British-based Respect for Animals.

The U.S. has banned Canadian seal products since 1972.