Date
March 15, 2005
Contact
RaeLeann Smith (312) 224-8650
Alicia Moore
(415) 388-9641, ext. 228
cellular
(415) 215-6376
In Defense of Animals
131 Camino Alto
Mill Valley
CA 94941
IDA is an international, California-based animal advocacy organization dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by defending their rights, welfare and habitats.
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San Francisco – Members of In Defense of Animals (IDA) will join animal protection and environmental groups around the world tomorrow to protest Canada’s annual seal hunt. Events are scheduled in more than fifty cities in Canada, the United States, Mexico, South America, the Middle East and Europe. The groups are gathering in front of Canadian embassies and consulates in twenty-two countries to protest the cruel and needless slaughter of harp and hooded seals.
| San Francisco, CA | |
| What: | WHAT: Protest against the Canadian seal hunt |
| When: | Tuesday, March 15, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. |
| Where: | Canadian Consulate, 555 Montgomery St. |
| Contact: | Alicia Moore (415) 388-9641, ext. 228, cellular (415) 215-6376 or RaeLeann Smith, (312) 224-8650 |
| Portland, Oregon | |
| What: | Protest against the Canadian seal hunt |
| When: | Tuesday, March 15th, 12 noon – 2:00 p.m. |
| Where: | Pioneer Courthouse Square |
| Contact: | Connie Durkee (503) 249-9996 or RaeLeann Smith, (312) 224-8650 |
| Los Angeles, CA | |
| What: | Protest against the Canadian seal hunt |
| When: | Tuesday, March 15, 11 a.m. |
| Where: | Canadian Consulate, 550 South Hope Street |
| Contact: | Bill Dyer (310) 301-7730 or RaeLeann Smith, (312) 224-8650 |
“Canada’s commercial seal hunt is the largest and cruelest slaughter of marine mammals on earth,” said IDA President Elliot M. Katz, DVM. “Each year, hundreds of thousands of baby seals are clubbed and shot to death, and many are even skinned alive.” A panel of international veterinarians who studied the commercial seal hunt concluded up to 42% of the seals they examined were likely skinned while still conscious.
Polling shows the majority of Canadians, Americans and Europeans want the commercial seal hunt ended for good, and governments around the world are taking action. On February 2nd, close to one quarter of US Senators cosponsored a resolution urging the Canadian Government to end the commercial seal hunt. In the United Kingdom, 130 Members of Parliament signed an Early Day Motion urging the British Government to ban the import of all sealskin. The Belgian Government recently banned the import and trade in sealskin, and the Italian Government has passed a resolution announcing its intention to do the same.
Sealing is an off-season activity conducted by commercial fishermen from Canada’s East Coast. They make, on average, one twentieth of their incomes from sealing – the rest from commercial fisheries. Canadian seafood exports to the United States, in particular, are worth over 3 billion dollars annually to the Canadian economy, dwarfing the few million dollars from the seal hunt. While some Canadian fishing industry representatives have attempted to justify the culling of seals by saying they eat too many cod and adversely impact the fish population, sound scientific studies show that the true cause of cod depletion is overfishing.
The hunt kicks into high gear later in March as sealers take to the ice wielding clubs, hakapiks, and guns, clubbing and shooting to death baby seals, some just a few days old. The Humane Society of the United States and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will be on the ice floes documenting the slaughter on film.
For more information, please visit FurKills.org, HarpSeals.org, and ProtectSeals.org.