An adult seal and pup are seen resting on the ice. The US House of Representatives on Monday unanimously passed a resolution demanding that Ottawa end the hunting of baby seals in Canada.[File Photo: AFP]

The US House of Representatives on Monday unanimously passed a resolution demanding that Ottawa end the hunting of baby seals in Canada.

The resolution was introduced by Democrat Tom Lantos, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut.

The resolution said that more than a million seals have been killed in the past three years, and that over the past five years, 95 percent of the seals killed were less than 12 weeks of age, with the youngest just 12 days old.

Lantos said this "inhumane practice is far beneath the dignity of the people of Canada."

"There is no real good reason to let this needless slaughter continue, and every reason to put it to a stop. We call on the Canadian government to suspend the hunt in the waters off the East Coast of Canada now and forever," he said.

Shays said, "I oppose the cruel practice of killing hundreds of thousands of young seals, as well as the environmental impact of this practice."

"It is our duty to protect and care for all of these animals," he said.

The Humane Society of the United States congratulated the House for taking up the matter.

"Canada's commercial seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world," said their vice president, John Grandy.

A similar measure was introduced in the US Senate in March.