A recent report brought to light a proposal prepared for the Government of Canada that would see 220,000 grey seals killed and incinerated in their protected Sable Island nursery.
To reach the proposed number of 220,000 seals, the cull and disposal program would run at birthing time each year for about five years and cost Canadian taxpayers an estimated $35 million.
Please urge the Canadian government to categorically reject this outrageous proposal.
Sign our petition today to ensure that Sable Island's grey seal population is spared this sickening slaughter, and that the island remains a protected habitat for seals.
Watch the video released by CBC News:
http://www.cbc.ca/video/player.html?category=News&zone=canada&site=cbc.news.ca&clipid=1506155099
You may write, e-mail or fax her office at:
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca
To: Gail Shea, Canadian Federal Fisheries Minister
Dear Madam Minister,
A report prepared recently for the Government proposed that 220,000 grey seals be shot and incinerated in their protected Sable Island nursery.
This horrific proposal includes shooting pups with silencer-equipped rifles, loading them onto dump trucks with a specially modified grabber machine, and transporting them to incinerators %u2014 all at a taxpayer cost of $35 million.
Of course, this disgusting grey seal massacre will not help the recovery of depleted cod stocks.
Culling of marine mammals has never been shown to benefit any commercial fish stock. According to your own scientists, the current state of cod stocks is the result of the long-term effects of overfishing %u2014 not grey seals. In addition, the DFO National Workshop on the Impacts of Seals on Fish Populations in Eastern Canada concluded that there is no analysis to suggest that fewer grey seals would have a positive effect on fish stock recovery.
Your Department must reject this outrageous and scientifically unjustified plan.
Signed,
