Star has eye-opening experience in visit to seal-hunting ground

It was a crisp, cold, perfect day when Karen Mok Man-wai stepped from a helicopter onto the icy expanses along the northeastern coast of Canada just over a month ago.

'It was like nothing I have experienced before,' she said. 'It was hard to imagine I was there, standing on top of the ocean. It was amazing - so peaceful. There was nothing except the white ice and the seals, and the only sound was the little noises the baby seals made.

'I had flown from Hong Kong and the hustle and bustle, and there I was in the middle of nowhere, and it was so peaceful, so pure and beautiful. It was real nature.'

On the ice the 38-year-old actress and singer had her first encounter with a baby seal. It was pure white and fluffy, with big dark eyes. It was barely a month old and unable to swim; it shuffled along the ice on its belly, displaying a trust in humankind that allowed Mok to get so close she could almost touch it.

'I really bonded with that animal. I think the seals really liked me. I think they knew I was there to help them. They really are beautiful animals. It is the first time I have ever been up close and personal with a truly wild animal. What struck me was they were not all the same and each seemed to have their own different expressions.'

However, the trust the animal displayed in humankind was to prove misplaced. If Mok had arrived just a couple of weeks later, the scene would have been quite different. It would have been the scene of a slaughter, the white of the ice stained red with the blood of hundreds of freshly killed seals.