Seals in Canada Can Still Be Clubbed To Death
And They Need Your Help - Please Act Now,
And On March 15 – The Day Of Action For Seals in Canada
 This month, the world’s largest slaughter of marine mammals is still scheduled to resume, despite the fact that an environmental disaster is naturally killing seal pups as you read this. Global climate change has resulted in barely any ice floes in eastern Canada which is critical habitat necessary for seals to breed, give birth, nurse their young and for the pups to gain strength in order to survive. If Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not intervene and cancel the hunt this year, sealers will kill the few remaining survivors. Please join IDA supporters and other compassionate people around the world by taking action today and on March 15 for a Day of Action for Seals in Canada. It’s important we spread the word to as many other people as possible as well.
For more information about the Canadian seal hunt, scroll down past the “What You Can Do” section.
We have steps you can take today, and we invite you to join with others on March 15:
1) Today – Send letters, faxes, e-mails, and make phone calls to the Canadian officials listed below. Express your opinion as to why you oppose the hunt and why it must end now. Urge the seal hunt be cancelled right away due to lack of ice and also why the Harb Bill should be passed as a measure to end the hunt permanently. The Harb Bill (named after its sponsor, Senator Mac Harb) must be passed within Canada to put an end to the seal hunt permanently.
Residents of Canada:
- Contact your Member of Parliament (MP). You may insert your postal code to find your MP here.
- Copy the bill’s sponsor, Senator Mac Harb: harbm@sen.parl.gc.ca
- Also copy Prime Minister Stephen Harper: pm@pm.gc.ca
Residents of the United States:
Ambassador Gary Doer
Embassy of Canada
501 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW Washington, D.C. 20001
Tel: 202-682-1740
Fax: 202-682-7726
Email: Washington-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca
All other countries: Contact the Canadian Ambassador or High Commissioner in your country.
2) Organize or attend an event on March 15, The Day Of Action For Seals In Canada. Please click here to view confirmed events.
Request or download outreach materials for leafleting on March 15. Request flyers and signs by March 3 and we can ship them to you free of charge in time for your event on the March 15. After March 3, please contact Melissa@idausa.org to request downloadable files to have printed at your local printer.
Options for event locations:
Canadian Consulates and the Embassy: We hope to have events at every Canadian Consulate in the U.S. Events for some Consulates are already confirmed, but we still need coordinators for Consulates in the following US cities: Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, and Minneapolis.
If you don’t live near a Canadian Consulate or Embassy, please choose a high foot-traffic area such as supermarket, library, or other public location. The goal is to inspire people not only to take and read the educational flyer, but also to TAKE ACTION afterwards and contact the appropriate government official listed above which will also be clearly listed on the flyer.
More Information About The Canadian Seal Hunt
In the end of February and early March, the Northwest Atlantic harp seals are returning to their birthing and mating grounds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland and Labrador coasts. Now through early March, hundreds of thousands of pregnant female harp seals will be looking for stable ice platforms to give birth and nurse their young. The fur of the newborn pups has a yellow tinge at first, but within a week, it becomes white and fluffy. The pups are still safe from sealers at this stage, but after about two weeks of life, the pups begin to moult their white coat, revealing sleek silvery fur and the harp seal’s signature black spots. Once the moulting process begins, seal pups are classified as “beaters” and become the targets of approximately 6,000 sealers’ whose ultimate mission is to skin as many seals as possible, in as little as time necessary. Shockingly, as many as 150,000 seals have been killed in as little as two days.
 The methods sealers use to immobilize seals and strip their fur has no regard for their welfare. Sealers approach the pups and start beating them with hakapiks – spiked clubs – on their muzzle, face, head and neck. They often go and beat other seals before they return to hook a large steel tip hook through their pups’ eyes, or elsewhere on their face without even checking to see if the seal is conscious or not. They drag the live and often conscious seal by the hook in his/her face to a boat where they could be skinned at that point or impaled on a boat hook and will end up getting skinned later.
Thanks to the letters you sent last year to the European Parliament, the European Union (EU) approved a ban on seal based products by a vote of 550-49. The EU stated they want to encourage higher standards for animal welfare by discouraging the sale of frivolous seal products derived from animals whose welfare is not taken into consideration.
In 2009, over 72,000 seals were reportedly killed, mostly for their fur. This is significantly less than the 280,000 quota established by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Poor pelt prices at $14/ pelt were likely a major deterrent for many sealers who didn’t want to waste money on fuel and other expenses for little economic gain.
Another issue of grave concern is the impact of global warming on the harp seal population. We do know that global warming has caused below average ice conditions in eastern Canada for the last several years. This year, scientists are extremely concerned as barely any ice is present in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as pregnant seals are beginning to return to give birth and breed afterwards.
Stay tuned for updates and please take the actions described above to encourage Canada to pass “the Harb Bill” to end the seal hunt now.
For more information, please contact Melissa Gonzalez, IDA’s Marine Mammal Coordinator, at Melissa@idausa.org.
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