Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor:Boycott Canadian Seafood And Save Baby Seals
By Mara Rigge
Apr 17, 2005 - 7:28:00 PM
Dear Editor:
March 29th 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.
T
he 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.
March 31st, sealers attacked the crew of the Farley Mowat (Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society) with hak-a-piks. Instead of
arresting the sealers, the Canadian Coast Guard moved in with their ships,
cutting off Sea Shepherd crewmembers on the ice, almost shoving them into the
icy waters. They then illegally arrested
11 crewmembers and let the sealers go.
(The Canadian Government doesn't want anyone videotaping or taking
pictures of the slaughter and were looking for any excuse to arrest the Farley
Mowat crew
and seize their evidence.) Luckily, the Humane Society of the United States immediately
flew a helicopter to the Farley Mowat and retrieved the pictures and videotapes
so the Canadian Coast Guard could not seize them.
Please go to:
www.seashepherd.org <http://www.seashepherd.org/> for pictures of the assault
and more information.
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
and/ 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.
Please see harpseals.org, protectseals.org, and seashepherd.org for more information
on how to stop this barbaric "hunt". PLEASE BOYCOTT CANADIAN SEAFOOD
until there is a permanent ban on the slaughtering of baby harp seals and
contact the Canadian Prime Minister to demand it.
Please sign petition against the "hunt" at:
www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/150408370
Please "click" every day for free at:
www.babyseals.care2.com
<http://www.babyseals.care2.com/> to support IFAW's commercial campaign against
the "hunt". Every time you
"click" their sponsors pay them money for commercial airtime.
