Canada's Seal Hunt: Cruel and Unnecessary

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. Most of them are skinned alive.

This isnt killing for food or survival, its  killing for fashion.Support IFAW to stop seal hunting.

SHAME ON HUMANITY

For hunting small, unprotected newborn of any species. Most of them have opened their eyes for the first time.

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. Most of them are skinned alive.

This isnt killing for food or survival, its  killing for fashion.Support IFAW to stop seal hunting.

SHAME ON HUMANITY

For hunting small, unprotected newborn of any species. Most of them have opened their eyes for the first time.

Once more, Canadian fishermen are preparing for another commercial slaughter of baby seals. I have joined the millions of individuals worldwide in protesting this annual hunt.

"We the undersigned" are deeply opposed to Canada's annual cruel, wasteful, and unsustainable commercial slaughter of harp seal pups.

Harp seals are facing a new threat%u2014global warming%u2014which is resulting in dramatically reduced ice coverage in the Gulf of St Lawrence and off Newfoundland.

Your government is on record stating it will take %u2018real action%u2019 on global warming.  And yet you have ignored the one tangible action your government could take to combat the effects of global warming%u2014dramatically reducing the seal hunt quota. 

Apart from these serious conservation concerns shared by many Canadians, the seal hunt targets baby animals, a practice that is unacceptable to the majority of Canadians.  In the past two years, 98% of the seals killed have been less than three months old.  Severe cruelty has been witnessed and documented at the hunt during the past 30 years and incidents of cruelty are not decreasing.

This hunt only continues to exist because it is propped up by a range of government subsidies and tax-payers money.  More and more countries around the world are adopting legislation to ban the import of seal products.

Instead of investing in meaningful employment opportunities for Newfoundlanders, the federal government continues to fund and support a seasonal and wasteful seal hunt which draws national and international criticism to a proud region of Canada trying to build a reputation for high-tech research and first-class environmental tourism.

I urge you to act immediately to end this unnecessary cruelty to seals and to restore Canada's pride as a humane and ecologically responsible society.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this important matter.