Canada’s Annual Seal Hunt Set To Begin Despite Worst Ice Conditions In Decades

Demos around the U.S. today call for cancellation of seal slaughter

San Rafael, Calif. – Northwest Atlantic harp seals are returning to their birthing and mating grounds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland and Labrador coasts. This year, global climate change has significantly decreased the formation of stable ice platforms necessary for courtship and for females to give birth and nurse their young.  Stable ice formations are lower in eastern Canada than they have been in decades, with barely any ice reported.

In Defense of Animals (IDA) is coordinating demonstrations today, including the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. and the Canadian Consulates in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Philadelphia and Seattle to protest the impending slaughter of those few seal pups fortunate enough to survive the unusual shortage of ice platforms, and to call for a permanent end to the hunt.

Veterinary reports conclude the seal hunt is inherently inhumane. Seals are beaten on their muzzles, face, eyes, head, neck and then hooked in the face and dragged to boats, often alive and conscious.  Seals are impaled alive on boat hooks or cut open while clearly responding to pain. Seals are routinely left to suffer while others are pursued. “It is truly time to stop the hideous and horrific killing of baby seals in Canada,” said Dr. Elliot Katz, DVM, President of IDA. “The survival of seal pups is already in danger due to global climate issues, and the prospect of a hunt for the survivors is a sad commentary on a supposed civilized country like Canada.”

Canadian Senator Mac Harb has reintroduced legislation (known as “The Harb Bill”) that would end the seal hunt permanently. IDA is intensifying letter-writing campaigns to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Canadian Parliament and Canadian Ambassadors and calling for a cancellation of this year’s hunt and passage of the Harb bill.

In 2009, the European Parliament of the European Union (EU) approved a ban on seal-based products by a vote of 550-49. IDA urges Canada to recognize that the world is rejecting this inhumanely-produced product.

For more information, visit www.idausa.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 15, 2010

Contact: Melissa Gonzalez, Melissa@idausa.org, 707-981-7701