March 29, the largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals on
the planet began off Canada’s Atlantic coast. By the end of this
year’s hunt, more than 300,000 baby harp seals will have been
brutally killed
– many, incredibly, as young as 12 days old.
Editor,
March 29, the largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals on the planet began off Canada’s Atlantic coast. By the end of this year’s hunt, more than 300,000 baby harp seals will have been brutally killed – many, incredibly, as young as 12 days old. The Humane Society of the United States and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is on the front lines in Canada, reporting and videotaping events as they unfold and fighting to halt this atrocity.
The innocent baby harp seals that are being killed for their fur are nursing pups. They are less than four weeks old and are unable to swim, so they are sitting ducks on the ice. They are beaten with hak-a-piks and/or shot in front of their mothers, many are skinned while they are still alive. Their convulsing carcasses are left on the ice for their mothers to sniff and grieve over.
Seal hunting is an off-season activity conducted by fishers from Canada’s East Coast. They earn a small fraction of their incomes from sealing and the rest from commercial fisheries. Canadian seafood exports to the United States contribute $3 billion annually to the Canadian economy – dwarfing the few million dollars provided by the seal hunt. The connection between the commercial fishing industry and the seal hunt in Canada gives consumers all over the world the power to end this cruel and brutal slaughter.
The Canadian Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has said that they will not stop the seal killing until the fishery corporations demand it. That means those few fish companies that support these massacres will have to reverse their position or all the others will have to speak out against the seal killing. So, please boycott Canadian seafood and force the Canadian fish companies to stop the hunt. Seafood from Atlantic Canada to boycott: snow crab, scallops, mackerel, turbot lobster, mussels, herring, sardines, cold-water shrimp, cod, prawns, flatfishes
Please see harpseals.org, protectseals.org, and seashepherd.org for more information on how to stop this barbaric “hunt.”
Mara Rigge, Trinidad, Calif.
