Fwd: Urgent: Five ways you can stop the seal hunt

[Guest guest]

>

>

> International Fund for Animal Welfare

> March 14, 2006

>

>

> Urgent: Five ways you can stop the seal hunt

>

> Dear Alison,

>

> Right now on the sparkling ice floes of Eastern

> Canada, hundreds of thousands of baby seals are

> about to die.

>

> In just a few short days, seals as young as 12 days

> of age will be clubbed and beaten. Others will be

> shot with a rifle in open water, fighting for their

> lives ... many left to suffocate under the ice or be

> pulled onto boats with sharp metal hooks.

>

> 95% of the seals killed will be less than three

> months old. Some will even be skinned alive. But

> there's still time to help (

>

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M714922946485830425137865

> ).

>

>

> If you were to witness the seal hunt personally,

> your heart would break.

>

> There is no economic or environmental reason to

> justify Canada's commercial seal hunt. This is a

> cruel and unnecessary hunt, opposed by the majority

> of Canadians. This government supported hunt isn't

> designed to promote science or meaningful employment

> for Newfoundlanders, it's designed to gain votes for

> politicians.

>

> Most seal pups lay on the ice alone and helpless,

> crying in anguish before they are violently cut

> down. During the past 30 years, IFAW hunt observers

> have continued to witness and document severe

> cruelty at the hunt.

>

> All this to produce less than one percent of the

> Newfoundland GDP and, by the government's own

> calculations, about $1,000 per sealer per year. A

> hunt that is nationally and internationally

> offensive is of no use to today's Newfoundland and a

> progressive Canada trying to build a reputation for

> first-class environmental tourism.

>

>

> Canada's government is counting on your silence

>

> World-leading marine scientists agree that the

> current high quotas for killing seals are putting

> the harp seal population at serious risk of being

> depleted. As many seals are killed today as during

> the 1950's and 60's when commercial sealers

> significantly reduced the seal population.

>

> You helped raise a global outcry that stopped the

> killing of whitecoat baby seals in the 1980's. But

> baby seals as young as 12 days old are still being

> left to suffer a lingering death besides piles of

> seal bodies rotting on the bloody ice after their

> fur is removed.

>

> Four ways you can help stop Canada's seal hunt right

> now:

>

> 1) Write a Letter to Save a Seal (

>

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M714922956485830425137865

> )

> The Canadian government believes no one cares enough

> about the seal hunt for them to end it. Prove them

> wrong. Send a letter to your representative calling

> for an end to Canada's commercial seal hunt before

> millions more baby seals die an unnecessary and

> cruel death.

>

> 2) Sign the Petition to Prime Minister Harper (

>

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M714922966485830425137865

> )

> The Premier of Newfoundland & Labrador made some

> shocking and false statements about IFAW and the

> seal hunt on the Larry King Show. The public

> deserves honesty and respect for the real facts

> about the killing of baby seals. Sign the petition

> urging Canada's Prime Minister to tell the truth

> about what's happening on the ice.

>

> 3) Make a Donation to Stop the Seal Hunt (

>

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M714922976485830425137865

> )

> IFAW brings journalists and politicians to observe

> the seal hunt, resulting in growing condemnation of

> the hunt around the world. Thanks in large part to

> IFAW's efforts, legislation to ban seal products is

> advancing in a number of countries, such as the

> Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. Your

> contribution is needed to help document the cruelty

> occurring on the ice this spring and expose the

> truth.

>

> 4) Tell Others to Help Protect Baby Seals (

>

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M714922986485830425137865

> )

> It only takes a few seconds to spread the word about

> the cruelty of Canada's seal hunt and our efforts to

> end it, yet the impact on the campaign is enormous.

> Please invite your friends, family, and colleagues

> to help save the seals.

>

> The seal hunt will be underway in just a few weeks.

> Please take action now (

>

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M714922996485830425137865

> ) to help spare another single baby seal from a

> cruel and senseless death.

>

> Sincerely,

>

> Fred O'Regan

>

>

> P.S. Looking for even more ways to help? Please

> consider taking a fifth action: writing a letter to

> the editor of your local newspaper speaking out

> against the seal hunt. Also be sure to forward this

> message (

>

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M714923426485830425137865

> ) to as many friends as possible. It's critical that

> more people speak out right now before the slaughter

> of baby seals begins.

>

>

> ____________________

> IFAW © 2006

> This message was sent to: whalesong17

>

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> are most needed to help animals.

>

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> (

>

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M714923006485830425137865

> ) for address information.

>

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>

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M714923016485830425137865

> )

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