Guest guest Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 Canadian Seal Hunt Begins Today; Photographs and Video Footage Available at WWW.IFAW.ORG 3/24/2004 10:41:00 AM National and Assignment desks, Photo Editor Contact: Kerry Branon of International Fund for Animal Welfare, 508-744-2068 or kbranon @ ifaw.org (remove 2 spaces) Web: http://www.ifaw.org CHARLOTTETOWN, Canada, March 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Despite international condemnation, the commercial hunt for Canadian seal pups began today across the ice floes of eastern Canada, and IFAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare -- http://www.ifaw.org ) is out on the ice to monitor sealing activity and document hunting violations. The hunt, which is heavily subsidized by the Canadian government, is expected to take as many as 350,000 seals over the next few weeks. Seals may be killed once they begin to moult their fluffy white coats -- as young as 12 days old. Ninety-five percent of the seals killed in the hunt are under three months of age. IFAW representatives are monitoring and documenting this years hunt, both from the air and on the ice itself. In the last five years alone, IFAW has submitted video evidence of more than 660 probable violations of Canada's marine mammal regulations to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). To date, not a single one has been investigated. These abuses include skinning live seals, dragging live seals across the ice with hooks and shooting seals and leaving them to suffer. Sealers are required by law to perform a simple test to determine if the seal is dead before skinning it. IFAW observers did not witness any sealers performing this test. IFAW submitted the footage to the DFO as evidence of extreme cruelty to animals and gross infractions of the marine mammal regulations that control the commercial seal hunt. Last month, a DFO representative contacted IFAW to say they would not be pressing charges. About IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) IFAW (The International Fund for Animal Welfare) was founded in 1969 to end the Canadian baby seal hunt. Over the next two decades, IFAW won many hard fought victories for seals, including the 1982 European Union ban of whitecoat and blueback sealskins. These aggregate victories stopped the baby seal hunt in the 1980s -- arguably the most visible and important that has ever occurred in the animal welfare movement. Two years ago the seal hunt returned and it is bigger than ever. To learn how to help IFAW protect seals, visit http://www.ifaw.org http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=116-03242004 Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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