HALIFAX - A pair of animal rights groups say they will be protesting the seal hunt during the Olympic torch run over the next few months.

However, organizers say they won't disrupt the run and will instead be inflating a giant seal named Sparky at locations away from the spectators.

Dan Matthews, the senior vice-president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said today his group will use "the opportunity'' of the torch tour to deliver their message that the seal hunt should be banned.

He says with "the eyes of the world'' on Canada and the Vancouver Olympics his group "can't resist the opportunity to engage people'' about the commercial seal hunt issue.

Some of the protesters are carrying signs showing the Olympic logo _ an Inuit Inukshuk - swinging a hakapik at a white seal sitting on a Canadian flag.

One onlooker in Halifax, 20-year-old Craig Dewar, says he thinks the protests are conveying a "one-sided'' message and he says he believes a ban on the hunt will lead to too large of a seal population.