This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Research Scientist Sheryl Fink.

Last week, we learned from Sandi in Newfoundland that several Members of Parliament from the Conservative Party of Canada were distributing these pro-seal hunt flyers to households across Atlantic Canada - including hers.  Sandi immediately recognized the numerous lies about Canada's commercial seal hunt and blogged about it. (Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Sandi, and for sending us a copy!)

Once we had recovered from the flyer's amateurish design and inaccurate information, we thought it would be fun to make up our own parody of the flyer which we are distributing in response. Even though it was the Conservative Party distributing the original flyer, we included a couple of prominent Liberals in ours, since the Liberal Party of Canada also supports the commercial seal hunt.

In fact, even though the majority of Canadian public opinion is opposed to the commercial seal hunt, every major political party in Canada supports it's continuation! The only exception is the Green Party of Canada which does not currently have any elected Members to the House of Commons.

Now, Canadian politicians have long known that promoting the seal hunt in Atlantic Canada is generally a sure-fire way to get votes during an election. Fortunately for the seals, this little flyer might have backfired.  Some newspaper editors in Newfoundland were either puzzled or even slightly annoyed by the flyer.

We wanted to let Atlantic Canadians know that if they are opposed to Canada's commercial seal hunt they are not alone. Millions of Canadians - and millions of people around the world - are opposed to this cruel, unsustainable, and unnecessary

 

In this edition of the Seals News Podcast, the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Seals Communications Officer Katie McConnell speaks about a suggested ban of the Hakapik and the effect of European efforts to ban the import of seal products on the Canadian sealing industry.

Click Here to Listen to the Podcast Now!