More than 300,000 seals will be cruelly killed (clubbed to death) this year. 98% of the seals killed in the past 2 years were between 2 weeks and 3 months old. Some seals are killed with a blow to the head using a wooden club or hakapik. The sealers stun as many baby seals as they can before going back to kill them. Some seals try to get away, but they are clumsy on the ice, heaving their fat little bodies with an uncoordinated flipper shuffle. Other seals are shot from a distance and then dragged from the ice onto boats using steel hooks.
The IFAW is trying to put an end to this insanity. They have led the fight to stop the cruel slaughter of seal pups since the 1960's, resulting in the import ban of newborn whitecoat seal pelts in 1985. Today, they have offices in 15 countries - they are the world's leading animal welfare organization fighting to save seals both on the ice and through vital scientific and market research.
If you go to the IFAW site, you can click the button that says Take Action and fill in a few fields of information to send a letter to Canada's prime minister, apparently the person who can make this nightmare go away. Why not do it now? Here's the link.
If you go to the IFAW site, you can click the button that says Take Action and fill in a few fields of information to send a letter to Canada's prime minister, apparently the person who can make this nightmare go away. Why not do it now? Here's the link.
I say we all pray for global warming so the hunters don't have any ice floes.
ReplyDeleteYeah, national disgrace IMO. Politics enter the fray, though, because the action happens out of and around Newfoundland. The newfs claim that it's part of their heritage and that they have the right to earn a living.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you- it's sick, but no politician in Canada is going to kick over that hornet's nest.