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End Canada's Annual Seal Slaughter
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Progressive Portal
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May 26, 2005 21:55 PDT
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MORE THAN 300,000 SEALS, MOST OF THEM LESS THAN A MONTH OLD,
KILLED IN BLOODBATH TO PROVIDE PELTS FOR HIGH FASHION
[From the Humane Society of the United States <http://www.hsus.org>]
This year's death toll from the annual seal hunt on the ice floes off
eastern Canada has now passed 300,000, making it the largest commercial
slaughter of marine mammals on the planet. Nearly all of the victims are
less than three months old; most are less than a month old. Most are
beaten with clubs or large ice-pick-like weapons called hakapiks, then
skinned on the spot. (Some are shot with rifles, but this method is
unpopular because the main sealskin processing plant in Canada deducts
$2 from the price it pays for the skins for each bullet hole it finds.)
Many of the seals are still alive and clearly feeling agonizing pain as
they are skinned, according to witnesses and to scientists who have
studied the corpses.
The only purpose of this hunt is to provide pelts to be made into coats,
tunics, dresses, shoes, vests, and jackets by Versace, Prada, and other
high-fashion designers. The use of seal fur and skin is banned in the
United States, but the designers use them in their European and
international collections. In addition, seal penises have been sold in
Asian markets as an aphrodisiac. There is almost no market for the meat,
so the carcasses are normally left to rot on the ice.
The annual hunt is authorized and subsidized by the Canadian government
to provide supplementary, off-season income for about 4,000 fishers,
mostly from Newfoundland. But the fishers derive, on average, only about
one twentieth of their incomes from seal hunting. Revenues from the hunt
account for less than 1 percent of Newfoundland's economy.
It's true that the eastern Canada's fishers have been suffering in
recent years from the depletion of cod stocks. Some industry groups try
to use this fact to justify the seal hunt, claiming that culling the
seals protects the fish. The vast majority of scientists who have
studied the problem, however, agree that the real cause of the depletion
of fish stocks is human over-fishing. Blaming seals for disappearing
fish is a convenient way for the fishing industry to divert attention
from its irresponsible and environmentally destructive practices.
Animal-rights activists and others have been lobbying, suing, and
demonstrating for years to put an end to the seal hunt. But because the
hunt is motivated mainly by economics, making it more costly than it's
worth may be the most effective way to end it. That's why the Humane
Society has launched a boycott of Canadian seafood. Canadian seafood
exports to the United States are worth $3 billion annually, dwarfing the
few million dollars provided by the seal business, so putting even a
modest dent in that business could quickly force the fishermen and the
government to abandon the brutal seal hunt.
Here's what you can do to help:
* Sign a pledge, which will be delivered to the Canadian government,
promising to boycott Canadian seafood until the government puts a
permanent end to commercial seal hunting.
* Implement your commitment by refusing to buy Canadian seafood exports.
Such products include lobster, crabs, mussels, scallops, shrimp,
oysters, cod, flounder, haddock, herring, mackerel, perch, yellow perch,
sardines, sole, swordfish, trout, tuna, and whitefish. Because the U.S.
and other countries also produce some of these species, it's important
to check the label or ask your server, grocer, or fishmonger where the
seafood originates.
* Tell Red Lobster, the largest seafood chain in the U.S. (600
restaurants) and one of the largest importers of Canadian seafood, to
condemn the seal hunt and stop its purchases of Canadian seafood until
commercial seal hunting is prohibited.
Take Action
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1. Sign a pledge, which will be delivered to the Canadian government, to
boycott that country's seafood exports until commercial seal hunting is
banned:
http://www.protectseals.org
2. To help you carry out your commitment, download and print out a
wallet-sized list of seafood whose origin you should check, at:
http://www.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/pocket_guide_to_boycotting_canadian_seafood.pdf
(229K, Adobe Acrobat Reader required)
3. Send a message to Red Lobster at:
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/redlobster
More Information
-----------------------------------
Humane Society pages dedicated to the seal-hunt issue, including
background information, horrific video footage, and other resources:
http://www.protectseals.org
http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/protect_seals
Other sites dedicated to opposing the Canadian seal hunt:
http://www.harpseals.org
http://www.animalsvoice.com/PAGES/features/seal.html
http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals.html
http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=21446
More on the Red Lobster campaign:
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/redlobster/explanation
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