Animal Cruelty – The Seal Hunt – Please Be Advised
Animal Cruelty – The Seal Hunt – Please Be Advised
Animal Rights (237882595)
Canada’s Seal Hunt: Cruel and Unnecessary
As humans we have the ability to consciously treat other living beings with respect and dignity. It is this ability, this choice that makes us human. Simply put, the Canadian seal hunt fails this choice miserably. Canada’s commercial seal hunt cannot be effectively regulated to ensure humane treatment and prevent cruelty..
Each year, hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals are slaughtered on the ice fields off Canada’s east coast for their pelts. Over 95% of the seals killed during this hunt are just days or weeks old. If you were to witness this cruelty personally, your heart would break. Newborn seals skinned or bled alive … clubbed to death … or shot and left wounded to die under the ice..
In the past three years, nearly one million baby seals have been clubbed or shot to death. Shockingly, the hunt is subsidized by the Canadian government..
How long can we continue to ignore such cruelty in the name of commercial profit?
Seal pups remain helpless and vulnerable on the ice for several weeks. It is during this same time when seals only two weeks to three months old are also mercilessly slaughtered for their pelts..
The truth about seal hunt will break your heart
Our humanity is measured by how we care for the vulnerable among us. What is more vulnerable than a newborn seal pup, stranded helpless and alone on the ice? A baby seal can be legally killed once it molts its white fur, which usually begins at about 12 days of age. The small, unprotected newborn of any species should not be preyed upon, never mind bludgeoned with a club. Seals are routinely clubbed or shot and left to suffer on the ice, then dragged over the sides of boats with sharpened metal hooks. Few sealers are observed checking to see if a seal is still alive before they skin it..
Canadian tax dollars at work
The Canadian government claims that the hunt is market-driven and economically viable. The fact is that sealing is a very small enterprise, accounting for less than one percent of Newfoundland’s GDP and an average income of $1,000 per sealer per year. And significant amounts of money continue to be spent by Canada through hidden subsidies to promote the hunt abroad, as well as to develop new markets for seal products. The federal government has subsidized the commercial seal hunt in many ways over the years, from direct subsidies to sealers and their organizations, to tax exemptions and federally funded support services during the hunt, including Coast Guard ships and ice breakers. The market is driven…by Canada’s government itself..
There is no excuse
The products of the hunt are an unnecessary luxury. Most of the harp seal carcasses (including the meat) are simply abandoned on the ice. This isn’t killing for food or survival, it’s killing for fashion. Despite years of research by the Canadian government trying to develop new seal products, the only economically valuable parts of the seal are the pelts of defenseless seal pups, a non-essential luxury product no one really needs. In many countries, this hunt would be completely illegal..
There is no economic or environmental reason to justify this hunt. It is driven by politics. World experts agree that the size of this hunt puts the harp seal population at risk and the increasingly high annual quota for hunting seals is regularly exceeded by sealers. More than a million harp seals have been killed over the past three years, yet the majority of Canadians oppose the commercial seal hunt as it exists today. This hunt isn’t about helping Newfoundlanders. It’s an unsustainable economic dead end that puts Canada’s international reputation and tourism industry at risk..
What can you do?
Many people mistakenly think Canada stopped hunting baby seals decades ago. As many seals are killed today as during the 1950s and 60s when over hunting significantly pushed seals down the road towards extinction. You helped raise a global outcry that stopped the killing of whitecoat baby seals in the 1980s. But Canada’s politicians have since used subsidies to expand the hunt again in order to win favor with the fishing industry..
That’s why it’s imperative you speak out now. We must show Canada that the world does care and will no longer stand for such animal cruelty.. Please take a moment now to:
1) Write a Letter to Save a Seal
Canada’s commercial seal hunt is the only legal and government-sanctioned hunt in Canada that allows hunters to exclusively target baby animals – the overwhelming majority between 2 and 12 weeks old. Write a letter to the Canadian Ambassador to Belgium urging him to support an end to the hunt..
2) Sign the Petition to Prime Minister Harper
The truth is the first victim of this year’s commercial seal hunt. Speaking on CNN’s Larry King Show, the Premier of Newfoundland & Labrador made some shocking and false statements about IFAW and the seal hunt. The public deserves a commitment to honesty and respect for the real facts about the killing of baby seals..
3) Make a Donation to Stop the Seal Hunt
Each spring IFAW brings international journalists and politicians to observe Canada’s commercial seal hunt, resulting in growing condemnation of the hunt around the world. Thanks in large part to IFAW’s efforts, legislation that will ban seal products is advancing in a number of countries, such as the Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. Ending the seal hunt requires a variety of effective measures carried out by effective organizations such as IFAW. Your contribution is needed to help this organization continue to document the cruelty occurring on the ice this spring and expose the truth..
4) Tell Others to Help Protect Baby Seals
It only takes a few seconds to spread the word about the cruelty of Canada’s seal hunt and our efforts to end it, yet the impact on the campaign is enormous. Please invite your friends, family, and colleagues to help save the seals..
5) Educate and spread awareness to others
Unfortunately, there are many people who do not know about this cruel mass murder of innocent seals. Some people do not even know such a horrific reality even exists. Please spread awareness and educate your family, friends and the rest of your community with the horrifying facts of the seal hunt and what can be done to prevent this brutal murder from continuing any longer..
This bloodbath is horrific and it is incredibly heartbreaking. This is more than just an animal cruelty crime; this is the mass murder of innocent and pure creatures who are babies. How can anyone call this mass killing of defenseless babies a “sport” or “hunt”? This is innocence being murdered by ignorance and heartless cruelty. Please help end this killing spree from continuing any longer. Please take action now. If not you, who? If not now, when? Please use your voice to protect and save those who are voiceless..
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us and we will respond as soon as we are able
Support animal rights
-Olivia