International Fund for Animal Welfare January 13, 2006

Seals Need Your Vote This Election

Ask Your Candidates to
Pledge for Seals

Dear judy,

Many Canadians like yourself, as well as citizens of other nations around the world, continue to be appalled by the needless cruelty of Canada’s commercial seal hunt. Yet in just a few months, more than three hundred thousand baby seals are likely to be clubbed or shot to death. More than 95% of the seals killed will be less than three months old.

Despite scientific evidence that such a high quota is unsustainable, the government claims the hunt will not harm seal populations. Nor do they take into account the continuing evidence of the inhumane treatment of seals during the hunt.

Every veterinary study done in recent years has documented unacceptable levels of cruelty, including seals being hooked and dragged across the ice while still conscious.

The upcoming election is the perfect opportunity to move the seal hunt back onto the political agenda. Highly contested elections and a recent condemnation of the government subsidized commercial seal hunt by Canada’s Green Party make this the right time to speak out and be heard. Please take a quick moment to ask your candidate to pledge their opposition to the commercial seal hunt.

A Very Small Economic Market Driven by Canada’s Government Itself

Significant amounts of money continue to be spent by the Canadian government through hidden subsidies to promote the hunt abroad, as well as to develop new markets for seal products. But 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.

One way the Canadian government justifies its support of the seal hunt is to claim that seals in the North Atlantic eat too many cod. But there's no scientific support for this claim. In fact, two of the government's own scientists reported in 1994 that the true cause of cod depletion in the North Atlantic was over-fishing.

From Beauty to Devastation in Just a Heartbeat

Female harp seals gather by the hundreds of thousands on newly formed sea ice to give birth to their pups from late February until mid-March, transforming the once barren ice floes into a huge, white nursery. Yet just days later, this pristine wonderland is transformed into a makeshift factory for the mass killing of baby seals as sealers descend upon them in boats, helicopters and snowmobiles, armed with clubs and guns.

As a result of this commercial seal hunt, more than a million seals were bludgeoned or shot to death in the past three years, all in the name of profit. Now is the time to stop this cruelty. Please send a letter to your electoral candidates asking them to share their views on the seal hunt issue with their constituents.

I hope that you will join me in taking a stand this election to make sure that your new MPs protect Canada’s natural heritage and finally put an end to the largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals on earth.

Thanks for all you do,

Fred O’Regan
President and CEO

P.S. There’s never been a better time to speak out against the commercial seal hunt in Canada. Candidates need your vote more than ever. Tell them your vote depends on their opposition to the seal hunt by sending them a letter right now.

IFAW © 2006
This message was sent to: judy@animaladvocates.com

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