Guest guest Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 This email was sent to you by Harpseals.org. Please add contact or harpseals.org to your address book. This will ensure delivery into your Inbox (not your bulk or junk folders). Harpseals.org News December 30 , 2008 Dear Jill, Soon, pregnant harp seals will swim down to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador to give birth to their babies. This beautiful, idyllic scene - pristine white ice floes dotted with fuzzy white harp seal pups with their proud mothers is a sight to behold, even from photos. Unfortunately, every year, a few thousand Canadian fishermen destroy this enchanted wonder. They do this for the basest of reasons - a few bucks that each sealer makes from a baby seal's pelt. Not for survival, as the Canadian government claims; just for some extra change in their pockets. This year, worried that the European Union will close markets to these seal pelts, the Canadian government is changing the rules of the slaughter - slightly. They government recently released a modification to the 'Marine Mammal Regulations.' "The proposal would modify the three-step process (stunning, checking, and bleeding the seals) to prohibit the use of a hakapik or club for seals over one year old, to require sealers to verify death only through palpation of the skull and to require the animal to be bled for one minute prior to skinning." Read more in our News and Press pages. What do these changes mean? Firstly, the prohibition on the use of the hakapik in seals over one year old means nothing, since 95% of the seals killed are between 3 weeks and 3 months old. Secondly, the killing process now eliminates the 'blinking-eye test' in favor of solely palpation of the skull. This past spring, both were required, though training in palpation was limited to a video shown to some sealers in the few weeks before the slaughter. The bottom line for seal activists is, the sealers and the Canadian government are facing a major hit to their bloody tradition. Our task is to encourage the European Union to go forth with the ban and to continue to put economic pressure on the sealers and the industry that promotes sealing - the Canadian fishing industry - by promoting the boycott of Canadian seafood. Ian Robichaud and harp seal pup Please help us spread the word about the boycott and the plight of the seals. Your donations are used efficiently by Harpseals.org because we are an all-volunteer organization with very low overhead. These donations fund the printing and distribution of leaflets, mass media advertising, and other forms of outreach and actions for the seals. We accept car donations, too. Please visit our Seal Store and our Variety Store, where we have many new items. Thank you for caring. For the seals, Diana Marmorstein, Ph.D.CEOHarpseals.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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