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A hakapik ( no, gaff) is a
A hakapik ( no, gaff) is a club
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises
...
, of Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
*Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
*Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including the ...
design, used for killing seals. The hakapik is a multipurpose hunting tool—a heavy wooden club, with a hammer head (used to crush a seal's skull), and a hook (used to drag away the carcass) on the end.
Regulation Canadian hakapiks consist of a metal ferrule
A ferrule (a corruption of Latin ' "small bracelet", under the influence of ' "iron") is any of a number of types of objects, generally used for fastening, joining, sealing, or reinforcement. They are often narrow circular rings made from me ...
that weighs at least 340 g (12 oz) with a slightly bent spike not more than 14 cm (5.5 in) in length on one side of the ferrule and a blunt projection not more than 1.3 cm (0.5 in) in length on the opposite side of the ferrule and that is attached to a wooden handle that measures not less than 105 cm (3.4 ft) and not more than 153 cm (5 ft) in length and not less than 3 cm and not more than 5.1 cm (2 in) in diameter.
The hakapik is favored by sealers because it allows them to kill the seal without damaging the pelt. Further, studies by American veterinary scientists on the use of the hakapik on the seal hunt carried out on Pribilof Islands
The Pribilof Islands (formerly the Northern Fur Seal Islands; ale, Amiq, russian: Острова Прибылова, Ostrova Pribylova) are a group of four volcanic islands off the coast of mainland Alaska, in the Bering Sea, about north of ...
of Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
suggested that it is an efficient tool designed to kill the animal quickly and humanely when used correctly. A report by members of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) (french: Association canadienne des médecins vétérinaires, ACMV), founded in 1876, provides leadership on national veterinary issues, advocates for animal welfare, and works to encourage life b ...
in September 2002 confirmed this claim.
See also
*Seal hunting
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in ten countries: United States (above the Arctic Circle in Alaska), Canada, Namibia, Denmark (in self-governing Greenland only), Ice ...
* Pickaroon
A pickaroon (or picaroon) is a wood-handled (may be other materials also), metal-topped log handling tool that originates from the Alpine Region where it is called "Sappie, Zapin, Sapine". It is distinguished from a pike pole by having a shorter ...
References and notes
Tools Clubs (weapon) Seal hunting {{Blunt-weapon-stub