Activists Descend On Canadian Consulate in San Francisco to Condemn Cruel Seal Slaughter

San Francisco—Members of In Defense of Animals (IDA) and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will join animal protection and environmental groups around the world today to protest Canada’s annual seal massacre. Events are scheduled in more than 30 cities in Canada, the United States and other municipalities around the world. The groups are gathering in front of Canadian embassies and consulates to protest the cruel and needless slaughter of harp and hooded seals.

What:: Protest against Canadian seal slaughter
When:: Thursday, March 15th from 12:30 - 2:00 p.m.
Where:: San Francisco/Silicon Valley Consulate General of Canada, 580 California Street, 14th floor

“Canada’s commercial seal hunt is the largest and cruelest slaughter of marine mammals on earth,” said Melissa Gonzalez, IDA spokesperson. “Each year, hundreds of thousands of baby seals are clubbed and shot to death and some are even skinned alive.” A panel of international veterinarians who studied the commercial seal hunt concluded that up to 42% of the seals they examined were likely skinned while still conscious.

Polls show that the majority of Canadians, Americans and Europeans want the commercial seal hunt ended for good and governments around the world are taking action. Germany and Belgium are the latest countries to take action to end their trade in Canadian seal products, and there is talk in the UK of stopping imports of Canadian sealskins. The European Union Parliament also supports a seal skin import ban.

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 (and the rest from commercial fisheries). Seafood exports to the United States are worth over $3 billion annually to the Canadian economy, dwarfing the few million dollars garnered 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 over-fishing.

The hunt kicks into high gear later this month as sealers take to the ice wielding clubs, hakapiks, and guns, clubbing and shooting to death baby seals, some just a few weeks old.

For more information, please visit seashepherd.org/seals.