A helicopter carrying observers from the Humane Society of the United States flies over broken ice pans to look for harp seals in a ice floe located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, March 21, 2006. The Canadian government may announce the start of the east coast seal hunt as early as this week. [REUTERS]

An adult harp seal moves along an ice floe in the Gulf of St. Lawrence , Canada, March 21, 2006. Canada said on March 14 it would allow 325,000 young seals to be killed this year and accused activists of misleading the public in suggesting that white-coat baby animals were still being slaughtered. Harp seals can be legally hunted once they shed their white coats at about two weeks, though they are not usually hunted until at least a week later. [REUTERS]