Barker represents the baby seals

The hot British photog from America's Next Top Model is trying to help the baby seals. Commendable.

HALIFAX - Nigel Barker, a fashion photographer and judge on "America's Next Top Model," will travel to Atlantic Canada in early March to photograph baby harp seals before the start of the annual commercial hunt.

Barker will accompany Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.

The society said Wednesday that Barker will return at the end of March to film the hunt.

Barker said he hopes he can draw attention to what he called "the inhumane slaughter that will occur in a few short weeks."

Every year hundreds of thousands of newborns are clubbed or shot to death on ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Last year's hunt had a quota of 270,000 animals.

"It is my strong opinion that this is bigger than making a fashion statement," Barker said in a humane society release.

"This is about making a life statement. If we call ourselves human, we must act humanely."