ACT NOW TO STOP THE SEAL HUNT!!

The world’s largest hunt for marine mammals just got bigger. By June 1^st of this year, the Canadian government had allowed more than 307,000 harp and hooded seals to be killed. This is the largest kill level we have witnessed since the 1960s. The number exceeds the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ own quota by more than 32,000 animals, and their estimate of a sustainable hunt by more than 50,000.  

It is bad enough that the DFO is allowing sealers to skin animals alive with no threat of repercussion. But now they are actually encouraging the sealing industry to blatantly disregard the DFO’s own management plan! 

In February 2003, Canada's Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Robert Thibault, increased the seal hunt quota to 975 000 animals over a 3 year period - in effect condemning over 1 million seals to death.

Seal Hunt Protest

Canada's seal hunt is larger and crueler than it has been in 35 years. Last year, more than 307,000 seals were reported killed, and recent studies suggest that up to 42% of them may have been skinned alive. In February 2003, Canada's Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Robert Thibault, increased the seal hunt quota to 975 000 animals over a 3 year period - in effect condemning over 1 million seals to death.

Don't Cry for Them, Fight for Them - Join the Protest!

Prime Minister Chretien will be the keynote speaker at a Liberal Party Fundraiser at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal on Wed, 14 May. Please join us in sending a message Jean Chretien and the Liberal Party, that Canadians do not support this inhumane slaughter.

When: Wed, 14 May 2003 5:30 - 7 pm

Where: Queen Elizabeth Hotel - 900 René Lévesque West (corner of Mansfield)

If you have any questions please call us at 514-939-5525.

Background

Despite the fact that the majority of Canadians are opposed to the harp seal hunt, the Liberal Party continues to support and promote this cruel industry with your tax dollars. Click here to send a letter voicing your opposition.

Click here to find out more about the harp seal hunt in Canada.

We need action immediately!!

Please ask everyone you know to take a few minutes to write the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Robert Thibault, and DEMAND that the hunt be shut down permanently. The decision to raise the 2003 quota will be made in the next few weeks – so please send in your letter as soon as possible. We need to show the Canadian government that the public is watching.

Click here for a sample letter.

Send letters to:

Honourable Robert Thibault
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
Parliament Buildings, Wellington Street,
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Canada
Tel: (613) 992-3474
Fax: (613) 990-7292
Email: Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

A couple of background points:

The commercial seal hunt is inherently cruel. A 2001 study conducted by an international team of veterinarians who observed the hunt concluded that up to 42% of seals are skinned alive while fully conscious. In the past five years, the DFO has received video evidence of more than 660 violations of Canada’s criminal code and the Marine Mammal Regulations that govern the hunt. They have refused to lay a single charge as a result.

The Canadian public entrusts the DFO to manage marine mammal hunts in Canada. When the DFO refuses to enforce their own quotas, they are betraying that trust. If the DFO does not stand behind the scientific merit of their own quotas, and refuses to enforce them, exactly what are we paying them for?

The DFO is caving in to political pressure. In their 2002 Seal Hunt Management Plan, the DFO clearly states that they set their quotas according to science, not market forces. They released the quota for this year's hunt only 5 months ago. From a conservation perspective, the only thing that has changed is that bad ice conditions likely caused thousands of seals in the Gulf to drown this year - so if anything, the quota should be lowered.

The DFO's most recent survey shows that the seal population is declining. To justify their actions, the DFO is trying to say that the seal population has been growing over the past few years, when their own studies show that it has been declining since 1996. In the past, reckless mismanagement caused the seal population to dwindle to 2-million animals. Although the population appears to be somewhat stable at 5.2 million, we have not seen this level of slaughter since 1967. And this is exactly the kind of "management" that eradicated the seal herds back then.

Sample Letter

Honourable Robert Thibault
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Wellington Street
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
CANADA

(DATE)

Dear Minister Thibault:

I am writing to express my condemnation of the commercial seal hunt.

It has become apparent that you and your department hold no regard for the welfare, or even the very survival of the harp and hooded seals species. Certainly, this has been clearly demonstrated by the recent actions you have taken in your "management" of the commercial seal hunt.

Through sheer indifference, you have just allowed the largest kill of marine mammals anywhere in the world to become even larger. As of 1 June 2002, more than 307,000 animals had been slaughtered - the highest kill level we have witnessed since 1967. The number of seals killed in 2002 was 32,000 animals in excess of the 2002 quota, and more than 50,000 higher than your Department's own estimate of the replacement yield.

Your refusal to do your job as Fisheries Minister, and shut down the hunt when the quota was surpassed, signals tremendous incompetence. Furthermore, your recent comments that you plan to raise the 2003 quota to an even higher level are outrageous and indefensible.

I was horrified to learn of the 2001 report produced by an international team of veterinarians, which concludes that up to 42% of seals are skinned alive. It is deplorable that the DFO received this report, and still has refused to address the problem. Furthermore, I am aware that more than 660 thoroughly documented violations of your Canadian Criminal Code and Marine Mammal Regulations, including the skinning of live seals, have been submitted to your department - and that you have refused to lay a single charge in response.

Equally unacceptable are the recent revisions to the Marine Mammal Regulations, which allow for the return of large vessels to the hunt, the establishment of licenses for culling seals, and the reopening of the hunt for blueback hooded seals. Moreover, rather than addressing the problem, the revised MMRs actually legitimize the established practice of shooting several seals prior to ensuring each one is dead.

It is absolutely unacceptable that the federal government of Canada has so deliberately and recklessly encouraged the decimation of a wildlife population that is beloved by people all over the world. Allowing the hunt to continue will guarantee a severe international backlash against Canada.

I demand that you act according to the will of the majority of Canadian people, and end this cruel and unsustainable hunt for harp and hooded seals permanently.

Sincerely,