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Canadian Seal Hunt 2006

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MARCH 27, 2006 The massacre has begun:

THE SEALERS OF THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS AND PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND HAVE STARTED SLAUGHTERING HARP SEAL PUPS TODAY. THAT IS, THEY HAVE BEGUN KILLING THE FEW SEALS WHO SURVIVED THE WORST ICE CONDITIONS IN RECORDED HISTORY.

AP Photo/IFAW, Stewart Cook, HO

March 25, 2006. One of the first victims of this senseless slaughter: a raggedy-jacket harp seal shot by sealer appears to still be conscious.
Harp seal pups start with white fur and molt over a period of a few weeks. This seal is so young, he/she is just beginning to molt. 

http://www.harpseals.org/ 

Seal Slaughter Update

 March 27th, Canada Confiscates Evidence of Violence - Arrests Victims

The Canadian media is having conniptions and hissy fits over the fact that celebrities are protesting the Canadian slaughter of seals.

Editorials and pundits are squawking that celebrities have no right to speak out against the killing of seals?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to meet with Brigitte Bardot to discuss the seal slaughter yet his refusal was a news story.

That’s the thing with celebrities, the media cannot ignore them. So despite all the whining, criticizing and pontificating about celebrities with an opinion, the opinions make news.

In a world where a celebrity makes the headlines for getting drunk, tripping on a rug, choking on a pretzel, or kissing their spouse or anyone else, especially someone else in public, is it any wonder that the headlines can be captured by just showing up somewhere with an opinion.

The Canadian media has been acting like horrified children in response to Brigitte Bardot coming to Ottawa to meet with the Prime Minister or that Sir Paul McCartney went to the ice to have his picture taken with a seal.

But as horrified and as indignant as they were, the pictures still appeared on the front page of the newspapers and lead the evening television news. And along with their pictures, were pictures and images of the seals being killed. Score for us.

Come on you scribblers and talking heads, stop acting like you don’t know what’s going on.

The media makes the rules. You make the rules.

You’re not interested in experts and certainly not interested in real activists.

I’ve been fighting the Canadian slaughter of seals for three decades and there is no way short of ramming a ship, getting tossed in jail or getting killed by a sealer that I can command the attention that a actor, or a musician can.

Canadian anti-sealing activists like Rebecca Aldworth and myself know the facts and are willing to debate the issue but Prime Minister Harper ignores us. With Brigitte Bardot, he had to hold a media conference to announce that he would refuse to meet with her. Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams has refused to debate us but he was willing to debate the McCartney’s on the Larry King show.

Considering his performance in that debate, I can understand why he would not wish to debate experts.

We bring celebrities to the table because people listen to what they have to say. There is no mystery about this. That is a basic law of modern media. When a celebrity opens their mouth the typewriters click and when they smile the cameras roll.     

One Newfoundland politician recently said they were not worried about celebrities. He said that in three days, people will have forgotten that Paul McCartney had ever been to the ice to see the seals. It has been three weeks since he said that and the world is still talking about it and they have been talking about Brigitte Bardot posing with a baby seals for nearly thirty years.

When I walked into the media conference in Ottawa with Brigitte Bardot on March 22, I was not surprised by the number of journalists from all over the world in attendance. The place was packed and the room erupted in strobe bursts from cameras for a solid five minutes.

Why? Because this woman is an film icon in a media culture. At 71 years of age she still commands the attention of reporters. She has not acted in three decades. She is no longer the sex symbol of France. Now she commands the attention of the media as a full time animal activist who has put her celebrity status to service for a cause she believes in.

When I hear so called professional journalists ask why we have celebrities speak for us and for the animals, the environment or social causes, I marvel at their denial of the rules of their own trade.

They are there, good reporters, because you listen to them and you do not listen to those of us who are not celebrities.

The fault is yours, not our. So get with the program because we will be bringing lots more celebrities to the ice to help the seals and guess what? You’re going to listen to them and you are going to take their pictures, question and interview them.

Because you know that entertainment is news and news must be entertaining and star power is the dominant power of media.

So get with the program and stop whining.

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Beatle Power Overwhelms Defender of Seal Slaughter

            Premier Danny Williams did not have a chance. Like a deer caught in the headlights, he was as helpless as a baby seal when he foolishly attempted to take on the legendary Beatle and his wife in a humiliating defense of the indefensible massacre of new born seals.

            Sir Paul McCartney and Lady Heather Mills McCartney were brilliantly articulate and their defense of the seals on last nights Larry King show was an incredible boost for the campaign to end the brutally cruel slaughter of seals.

            “My heart was filled with hope to hear the McCartney’s defense of the seals. They knew their facts and they were not intimidated by Premier Danny Williams, the Premier of Newfoundland.” Said Captain Paul Watson, the President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

            Premier Williams attempted to steer the argument away from the issue but Heather put him in his place by pointing out that he was doing what most politicians do by trying to deflect the issue.

            William’s defense of the sealers as humane was pathetic and lost all credibility with the images shown of the seals choking and convulsing in their own blood on the ice. William’s argument that the seals were shot and not clubbed was shown to be a lie by the same images, and by interviews with sealers holding their clubs. Even more pathetic was William trying to say that the people who defend the seals are terrorists and are under investigation for terrorism.

            The World Wildlife Fund did not win any points when Williams announced that he had their support. And the International Fund for Animal Welfare must have been outraged to hear Williams say that the sealers had the support of IFAW, which they don’t and never will.

            Most importantly Paul and Heather promoted the boycott of Canadian Seafood Products and pointed out that the boycott of snow crabs from Newfoundland alone had cost the Canadian seafood industry 129 million dollars, a fact that Williams could not deny.

            They specifically mentioned the boycott of Red Lobster twice which will put considerable pressure on the restaurant chain to stop their purchase of Canadian fish. Last week Trader Joe’s joined Whole Food Market and thousands of restaurants that have signed on to the boycott of Canadian seafood.  

            Heather and Paul stayed on the issue and did not allow themselves to be distracted by Williams. Recently elected Prime Minister Stephen Harper is most likely regretting his decision to have Williams speak for him. That decision made Harper to appear cowardly, a world leader afraid to debate a Beatle and his choice of Williams demonstrates his complete ignorance of the issue.

            If Williams is the best defender of the slaughter that Canada can produce then the battle for the hearts and minds of the public has been lost to Canada. They should end the seal hunt now and save some dignity.

            Rebecca Aldworth and the Humane Society of the United States are to be commended for bringing the McCartney’s to the ice. They allowed the McCartney’s to deliver the message on their own and they were terrific.

            Williams invited Paul and Heather to Newfoundland to defend the cod which he says were wiped out by European fisheries. The fact is that it was the Canadian draggers that were responsible for the destruction of the cod, not the seals and not foreign fishermen.

            When Williams said that Canada had the best scientists in the world managing the seals, Heather quickly pointed out that they were the same scientists who mismanaged the cod.

            Heather knew her stuff and she was passionate about it. Paul radiated confidence and both of them strongly refuted William’s insulting accusation that they were being used by those who opposed the seal hunt.

            The Newfoundland Premier, Canadian politicians and the sealers can ridicule the opinions of celebrities all they like but the fact remains is that the public listens when they speak and the international public has become very aware of the bloody, cruel, barbaric and archaic slaughter of seals by Canadians because of outspoken celebrities who have gone to the ice, people like Richard Dean Anderson, Martin Sheen, Farley Mowat, and Brigitte Bardot.

            This visit to the ice by Paul and Heather has sent images of the seals around the globe. They have led a media charge that has broken the lines of the Canadian defense of this slaughter and they have invigorated and passionately motivated seal defenders around the world.

            “Well done Paul. Well done Heather, You have made a major contribution in defense of the seals and for the cause of ending this horrific slaughter and we thank-you.” Said Captain Paul Watson.   

Captain Paul Watson
Founder and President - Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Director - Sierra Club USA
Director - The Farley Mowat Institute
Director - Atlantic Grey Whale Society
President - Oceanic Research and Conservation Action Force
Website: www.Seashepherd.org

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'MacGyver' Tackles Seal Hunt

Last Updated Tue, 08 Mar 2005 13:14:37 EST

CBC News CHARLOTTETOWN - (website: http://north.cbc.ca/)

http://www.harpseals.org

Actor Richard Dean Anderson, best known for portraying the quick-thinking handyman hero MacGyver in the TV series of the same name, has taken on a new role to protest the annual seal hunt. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, one of the world's most famous environmental groups, has enlisted Anderson's help as it tries to intensify its international campaign against the annual seal hunt, which starts in a few weeks.

Anderson, who recently finished working on the science-fiction series Stargate SG-1, said he's not worried about being used to promote Sea Shepherd's message. "No, it was my volunteering to be used," Anderson, who is a member of the group's board of directors, said at a press conference in Charlottetown Monday. "Because I understand the power of the media and the power of celebrity.

The American-based group wants to boost the protest against the seal hunt to the level it was in the 1970s and 1980s. It's trying to send a ship filled with protesters to the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to document the birth of harp seals, which it will use in campaign videos.

"It's a barbaric and ignorant and cruel industry," the group's founder, Paul Watson, said at Monday's news conference. "And it can't be justified just because somebody's making a buck off of it."

The Sea Shepherds also belong to a larger coalition that is advocating a boycott of Canadian seafood because of the seal hunt, with an international day of protest planned for March 15.

But with the price of harp seal pelts at an all-time high of up to $70, some fishermen said there's little support for the Sea Shepherds' message on the East Coast.

"This is a legal cull, markets seem to be up," said Ed Frenette of the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association.

"If they're going to protest things, I think they should protest where [seal products are] being sold ... and who's wearing them. Fishermen are simply trying to make a living."

The group formed in 1977 to campaign against the seal hunt.

Its latest campaign got off to a rough start in the Atlantic provinces. Last week in Halifax, its plans were delayed after Transport Canada detained its vessel the Farley Mowat for four days.

When the ship finally set sail to observe the harp seals giving birth, it sprung a leak and had to be escorted by a coast guard ship to Port aux Basques, Nfld.

Once their ship is repaired, the group plans to remain in the region to observe the seal hunt. It expects the expedition to cost about $250,000.

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Sample Letter

http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals.html 

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca

The Honourable Mr. Loyola Hearn
House of Commons
Minister, Fisheries and Oceans
E-mail: min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Canadian Embassies and Consulates: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/world/embassies/cra-en.asp

Dear ________________:

I write to you as a supporter of Sea Shepherd and along with millions of other concerned people worldwide to call your immediate attention to
Stop the Seal Hunt that is conducted on the East coast of Canada primarily off the shores of Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, Quebec
and Prince Edward Island. 

In this "seal cull," harp and hood seals are hunted down in their nurseries on the ice floes then systematically slaughtered with clubs, 
hakapiks, rifles, and shotguns. Sanctioned by the government of Canada, and permitted by provincial authorities, up to 350,000 defenseless seals
are killed annually in this manner. In addition, tens of thousands of these beautiful mammals are killed and not accounted for as they are
clubbed or shot and slip into the ice to their deaths by drowning.

I oppose this hunt on both welfare and conservation grounds. The unsustainable slaughter of newborns will one day leave the coasts of
Canada bereft of the beauty these animals bring to your people. It is unclear whether these migrating populations of harp and hood seals can
survive the intensity of this hunt that is poorly regulated, unsustainable, and horrendously cruel. 

The killing floes where the slaughter occurs are a devastating trail of endless red as sealers slaughter babies in front of their nursing
mothers. Whether they bleed to death from a hakapik, club, or are shot with rifles and shotguns, the seals suffer an agonizing and terrifying
death through these methods. The Seal Hunt turns Canada's pristine wilderness into a bloodbath, and as such, are a direct threat to a real
and valuable seal watching industry that is growing worldwide, along with a growing respect and care for marine life. 

Although the hunt occurs largely out of public sight on the ice floes, crewmembers of Sea Shepherd have witnessed firsthand the inhumanity of
the killing methods used in Canada on these sentient marine mammals.

As you will be aware, seal-watching on the ice floes is growing in Eastern Canada, where it is not only a popular activity for locals and
tourists alike, but is also a financially viable alternative to butchering baby seals. No public relations campaign within Canada can
hide what is occurring on the killing floes, even if the public rarely sees what happens. 

This hunt is an archaic and traditional practice that has to be heavily subsidized by the federal Canadian government in order to be sustained.
In some communities, the seal hunt is maintained merely to satisfy the needs of a few fishermen who supplement their incomes from this brutal
practice. 

Your Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) insists that the seals must die so that cod populations can increase. The DFO's position is
that the harp seal is a major predator of the cod, yet there is little scientific justification for this position. 
 
With cod populations at less than 1% of pre-Columbian levels, and with the collapse of the cod industry, the seal has become the scapegoat for
the excesses of the Canadian and foreign drag trawler fleets that plundered the Grand Banks for decades and left very little behind. 
 
This bureaucratic ordered destruction of the seals has no place in the 21st Century.

We are calling for an end to the harp and hood seal hunt. The public outcry that occurs worldwide whenever the images from this slaughtering
of seals are publicized will not go away. The dedication of individuals committed to ending this barbaric practice will not go away. 

Sea Shepherd is working to raise the awareness of the people of the world and in particular in Canada, most of whom do not realize that this
hunt still takes place within their country and who are outraged when they learn their tax dollars are supporting this hunt. I appreciate your
immediate attention to my concerns. 


Yours sincerely,

 

"Baby Blueback (Hooded) seal" (Bob Talbot)

 

Photo Credit: HSUS

 

2005 Canadian seal hunt Respect for Animals © 2005

 

Whitecoat Seal Respect for Animals © 2006

 

Videos: http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=canada_seal_hunt