Friday, May 11, 2007

Feel like an activist?



Hi guys-- Just thought that it was ironic that this email popped up in my inbox last week. Do with it what you will... :)

Hi Leigh,

With over 177,222 harp seals and seal babies slaughtered to date, it seems like things couldn't get much worse in Canada. Yet, brutality witnessed on the ice this month by the seal hunt observation team was simply shocking. They need your help more than ever.

Sign the petition to boycott Canadian seafood until Canada stops the hunt: >> http://go.care2.com/e/R8Yd/Hi4Y/eOPo

The seal observation team helplessly documented sealers flouting Marine Mammal Regulations. Without checking to ensure the babies were dead after an initial blow, sealers have stabbed the still-struggling seal pups with boat hooks and dragged them onto the boats to be flayed. [1]

And perhaps equally horrifying, instead of trying to enforce the law, fisheries officials asked the observation team to move further away from the slaughter. Apparently, the presence of the team was “upsetting” the hunters.

Don’t do business with baby seal hunters – sign the Canadian seafood boycott petition >>

Why is a boycott powerful and effective? Seal hunting is an off-season activity for Canada's east coast commercial fishermen. Only a small fraction of their income comes from selling seal skins to the fur industry. The majority of seal hunters’ annual income is made through seafood products such as snow crab, cod, scallops and shrimp. Do your part by boycotting today: http://go.care2.com/e/R8Yd/Hi4Y/eOPo

What's more, global warming has made it hard enough for seal pups – even without this brutal hunt. Thin, broken ice and higher than usual mortality rates have already had a profound effect on seal pups in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this year. Ninety percent or more of the seals born in the southern Gulf this year have died, and sealers targeted the few surviving pups.

There is no way to defend this type of annihilation. But there is hope. Seafood is the main source of income for most seal hunters. If enough people pledge to boycott Canadian seafood, we can force hunters to give up this brutal hunt.

Thank you for doing your part to stop the Canada seal hunt!

From Care2.com
Robyn E.

Care2 and
ThePetitionSite Team

1 comment:

Meaghan said...

Hi Leigh, Thanks for helping create more awareness about this brutal, inhumane event. People who dispute that animals feel pain are not informed with anatomy, physiology, biology, or the fight or flight response. Thanks again, Meaghan