Horrific package holidays to shoot seals include accommodation, as well as food and drink – and hunters can even stay in an exclusive cottage on a private island
Sick seal shooting holidays are being marketed to Brits by a controversial company.
BookYourHunt.com offers trips to slaughter animals including giraffes, hippos and camels, via an Amazon-style shopping website. Opportunities to shoot seals for “sport” in Finland and Sweden are available for just over £700 a day.
Other trips advertise hunts for giraffes and hippos across the world. Jouni Leinonen, one of the seal hunt guides advertising on the site, promises “lots of shot [sic] opportunities and fresh sea air is guaranteed. We have all the necessary equipment for this special kind of hunting.”
The package holiday includes accommodation, food and drink, and a fee to shoot a grey seal. Hunters can stay in an exclusive cottage on a private island.
Leinonen says in his advert: “I have been a hunter for 25 years. We offer hunting trips to individuals, families and small groups. We provide everything you need to make your trip a great experience.”
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Matthew, an American trophy hunter who has been on one of Leinonen’s seal hunts, described it as an “incredible adventure”. He said: “I loved every minute of this hunt.
“The unique transportation across the ice, the accommodations, the hunt itself. I am the only person I know, aside from my guide, who has ever done anything like this. I was looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I got everything I wanted and more. It’s a tough, exhilarating hunt but worth every minute and every penny.”
Actress Joanna Lumley, 78, slammed the hunts. She said: “This is some of the most vile content anywhere on the internet. The photos of beautiful seals slaughtered for pleasure are absolutely heartbreaking.
“The worst of it is they are being killed just for so-called sport. I think millions would agree with me in calling for these sadistic hunts to be outlawed at once and the websites that market them should be shut down immediately.”
But Jouni Leinonen defended the trips, run by a firm called MeriRaahe, saying hunters in Finland get part of an annual quota of 1,050 grey seals to shoot. He said: “We hunt seals for meat and fur. We make gloves, hats and boots.
“We take samples to send to the Finnish natural resource centre [government]. They get important information about the pollution level of Bothnia bay from the seal liver.”
The Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting is calling on the government to shut down websites such as BookYourHunt. Eduardo Goncalves, its founder, said: “BookYourHunt.com is an online supermarket where trophy hunters go to buy virtually any animal to kill just for kicks.
“You can buy giraffes, hippos and camels – even trips to shoot squirrels, beavers, wallabies and wild cats. The government needs to hurry up with its ban on hunting trophies. It keeps saying it will do it but refuses to say when, despite numerous MPs’ efforts to get an answer out of them.
“It’s a total no-brainer: government officials have already written the bill, it has strong cross-party support and nine out of 10 voters want it in place as soon as possible. What are they waiting for?”
BookYourHunt did not respond to our request for comment.
