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
IFAW News Podcast 5 22 08 - Hakapik and European Bans
June 03, 2008
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.
Animal lovers and Second Lifers are being encouraged to attend a live virtual event to help end commercial seal hunting – with guest appearances by a US musician and a UK politician.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) concert on Saturday 10 May (3pm SLT & 11pm BST) will feature singer/songwriter Juel Resistance and Labour Member of Parliament for Bristol East, Kerry McCarthy. Second Life's residents will have the opportunity to hear about IFAW’s campaign to help stop the cruel Canadian seal hunt. Residents will be able to view and hear video recorded by IFAW monitors during the 2008 seal hunt which began in March, interact with IFAW avatar Daisy Meadowbrook and take action in support of calls for a Europe-wide ban on seal products.
Kerry McCarthy MP, who will speak at the event, said: “I strongly support IFAW’s work to put an end to this brutal hunt. The annual killing of more than a quarter of a million seals, mostly for their fur, is simply unacceptable.
“An EU-wide ban on the trade in seal products is a vital step to help end this hunt and make sure that Europe plays no further part in this cruelty. I’m very happy to lend my voice in support of that effort.”
"Animal welfare activists will stage demonstrations across Europe tomorrow to put pressure on the European Environment Commissioner to ban the import of Canadian seal products."
"Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans has officially closed the last and largest phase of the seal hunt off Newfoundland and Labrador. Officials say participation for this year's hunt was low, mainly because of the high price of fuel and the low price of pelts, which were selling for about half of what they were a year ago."
"Some Canadian seal hunters in Newfoundland say they aren't sure low pelt prices and high gas costs make going to sea worthwhile later this month.
"While hunting resumed Monday off New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the upcoming hunt along Newfoundland's northeastern shore isn't as appealing to seasonal fishermen, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported."
"New rules adopted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to ensure seals are killed humanely should be accompanied by better training for sealers, says a member of the veterinary panel that looked into the issue.
"A group of nine veterinarians from Canada, the U.S. and Europe met in August 2005 to look at ways to minimize or eliminate suffering of animals during the seal hunt. One of the recommendations was a three-step process for killing, including bleeding the animal after it has been clubbed or shot."
"I am asking you at take a hard look at yourselves and your leaders. Why are you allowing a barbaric act such as the clubbing to death of baby animals in the presence of their mothers to take place in your community? Babies that have not yet had a chance to take their first swim.
"It is not going to provide you with any long lasting solutions for your life long problems: for example; high unemployment, lack of training and opportunities. Rather "clubbing" your local politicians will bring about these positive changes. If politicians started to do their job, think creatively and work, it would help you to find dignifying work and repair Canada's image."
WARNING - GRAPHIC FOOTAGE - IFAW Documents Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt Day 3 Cruelty
April 07, 2008
In what may prove to be some of the most violent footage of the 2008 Canadian commercial seal hunt to date, the International Fund for Animal Welfare has posted this short video of two seal pups clearly in agony as they are attempted to be killed by rifle fire and in the last case a subsequent clubbing. Please consider donating today to help IFAW end this cruel hunt once and for all.
"British reporter Danny Penman from the Daily Mail spent nearly a week in Nova Scotia, Canada, to investigate this year’s ruthless slaughter at close range as the horror unfolded.
"'The baby seal looked into the eyes of her executioner. Barely a flicker of emotion shows on the fisherman’s face as he smashes a steel-tipped club into her mouth. She lay whimpering on the ice, blood pouring from her jaw and nose.'
'But she wasn’t yet dead, so the sealer hit her in the face another 4 times before slamming a hooked “hakapik” club into her stomach and dragging her across the ice towards the ship.'"
"The seal hunt, nearing 300,000 slaughtered babies per year for the garment industry, has increased drastically since the Conservatives took power. Most people who do this hunt are far batter off financially than many Canadian households. The hunt is not needed for the survival if the hunter. This hunt is only needed for trading purposes with Asian countries, soon to be the only countries that will allow any seal part into their lands, as we are one of the few remaining countries to allow dog and cat furs into our homes."
"Mourners gathered Friday as the bodies of three sealers, who perished at sea last weekend, were carried into the town hall of Cap-Aux-Meules, a small community located in Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Que.
"A fourth sealer is still missing and presumed dead after the victims' fishing vessel, the L'Acadien II, capsized during a rescue operation by the Canadian Coast Guard last Saturday off the coast of Cape Breton."
Children and Politicians at IFAW's Rally to Ban Seal Products
April 03, 2008
Three Dutch members of parliament and dozens of school children participated in IFAW's
campaign for a European ban on Seal products on 1 April 2008 in The Hague, The Netherlands.
The parliamentary members from the liberal, social, and social democratic parties
demonstrated their support by climbing up a ladder to place puzzle pieces in the form of European
countries on a large billboard map, symbolizing the European countries that currently
do not have a ban on seal products. The children cheered and waved European flags
in the air as each member took on the brave task of climbing the ladder to the top.
IFAW Hunt Watch 2008 - Graphic Video and Accounts of the Hunt
April 02, 2008
On Monday the IFAW team continued to document Canada's commercial seal hunt off the east coast of Cape Breton. We saw four boats; two medium size boats and two small skiffs, along with the Coast Guard vessel. The boats were moving through the ice pans searching for the young pups. Although this is my seventh year documenting Canada's commercial seal hunt, one can never be completely prepared for the cruelty that we witness. We documented sealers both shooting seals from their boats and clubbing them on the ice.
I saw animals being shot from boats and injured; these young seals were not killed quickly or humanely like the Canadian government claims they are. One animal was crawling around on the ice bleeding for over a minute before the boat arrived and a sealer jumped down onto the ice pan to kill it with a club. It never ceases to amaze me that sealers see a seal crawling around on the ice suffering, yet they don't act quickly and shoot the animal again to put it out of it's misery.
IFAW documents the seal hunt for a few days a year and we can only be filming one boat at time. Yet every year we see animals being shot or clubbed and left to suffer. We see animals hooked and skinned alive, as we did yesterday. The most striking image from yesterday's footage involved a seal that was injured and then hooked in the face and dragged back to the boat. We were moving between boats and came across a sealer on the ice with what appeared to be a dead seal. He started writing in the snow with a bloody finger; the message was "F@ck Off".
As we were circling to get a better shot of his message to us, the seal that was on the ice behind him, tried to sit up! This was clearly not swimming reflex, this animal was still conscious. The sealer did not respond by taking action to quickly kill the seal as required by the Marine Mammal Regulations, instead he hooked it in the face and then proceeded to drag the animal across the ice and onto the boat, still alive. What we document out here is unacceptable and the world needs to see what only a few people have the ability to view in person. IFAW is here to document the hunt so that the world can see that this hunt is inherently cruel and is not monitored or enforced like the government claims.
Although the hunt in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence is coming to a close, IFAW will stay on another day or so to try to document as long as we can. The weather was bad today so we could not fly, but we will try again on Wednesday. We are here so that the world can see what really happens during the world's largest marine mammal hunt.
Stop the Seal Hunt, Kerry McCarthy, Labour Member of Parliament for Bristol East
"Have just been doing a bit of research on the Canadian seal hunt (yes, I know - a fun way to spend a Saturday night!). For some good info, see here: www.stopthesealhunt.com"
Also found this IFAW press release, which tells us that in Canada seals are classed as fish, rather than as sentient marine mammals that can experience pain, fear and suffering - which I thought was interesting (not to mention highly convenient!)"
"Well, that didn't take long. The Canadian government's new requirement that hunted seals be actually dead before they skin them is already being ignored."
"Good news. Thick ice is slowing sealing boats from reaching the baby harp seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, reports Planet Ark. Consequently, only three pups out of a quota of 275,000 were killed the first day. This after last year's "hunt" was affected by a lack of ice. The Canadian government has promised the slaughter will be more humane this year. How? After a hunter shoots or clubs a seal, he now must check its eyes to ensure it is dead, and if not, the animal's main arteries must be cut.
"Okay, let's get clear about this. That does not qualify as humane."
"I am absolutely disgusted by the cruelty of Canada’s commercial baby harp seal hunt. As you are aware over the next few weeks, more than a quarter of a million seals will be killed for unnecessary fur products. Nearly all of these seals will be less than three months old. Many will suffer painful and lingering deaths. This is unacceptable cruelty and the UK and Europe’s role in the trade in seal products is allowing this to happen."
"The European Union is contemplating action against the alleged culling of young seals by Canada, the spokeswoman for Stavros Dimas, European environmental commissioner told journalists last week."
"A Canadian lobby group that includes Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik will be in London Monday to begin a week-long bid to fight against a threatened European Union seal hunt ban."
"Animal rights activists have claimed that sealers were not totally complying with a new rule designed to make their hunt more humane on the ice off the Gulf of St Lawrence.
...
"'We've just filmed four seals being killed and not a single one was bled out before moving it,' said Sheryl Fink, a hunt observer with IFAW."
"Photo released 30 March 2008 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) showing a hunter as he clubs a harp seal pup on the opening day of Canada's 2008 commercial seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 28 March 2008 . This seal was struck by the hunter and wounded before it escaped into the water. This is known as seal that has been struck and lost."
"That great Canadian tradition, the seal hunt, has started; 325,000 will die in the next few weeks. Many are against it; the Prime Minister says Canada was victim of an "international propaganda campaign," and insisted the cull would be carried out humanely."
"Britain's Press Association, the country's respected national wire service, said the federal government has been particularly reluctant this year to give out permits allowing international observers and journalists to go on sealing boats. A fisheries and oceans official told the Press Association that Canada's doesn't intend on running a travel agency for the observers and journalists."
"As opposition to this barbaric practice, which sullies the international image of Canada, grows both inside the country and in the international community, a number of nations are putting their money where their mouth is, introducing legislation to ban seal products. Among these nations this year are Germany, Italy and Austria, which join the U.S.A, Mexico, Croatia, Belgium, The Netherlands and Slovenia, which already have bans on importing seal products.
"The European Union is considering a ban on seal products, in addition to the ban on white seal pelts introduced in 1983. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas is “looking into” the inhumane practice of killing baby seals and will deliver his report later this year. However, to date EU legislation is half-hearted: while the number of seals authorised to be slaughtered rises from 270.000 to 275.000, the European Union recommends that the animals are dead before they are skinned."
This image of a sealer dragging a bleeding seal across the ice while another sealer takes aim at a different pup was taken on day two of the Canadian commercial seal hunt.
This morning we awoke to some somber news. According to media reports, a vessel from the Magdalen Islands capsized 70 kilometers north of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia last night while under tow by the Canadian coast guard. Apparently six men were on board; two were rescued, three have died and one is still missing. This morning, the IFAW team of observers here in Charlottetown, PEI offered our support and aircraft resources to assist with search and rescue efforts. The coast guard respectfully declined. All of us here with IFAW extend our deepest sympathies to the families of the sealers who were lost at sea last night.
As far as we are aware, there have been no plans on behalf of Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans to suspend the hunt.
IFAW Seal Hunt 2008 - The Hunt Opens Video - GRAPHIC FOOTAGE
WARNING: This Video contains graphic images of seal hunting.
In this video, the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Research Scientist Sheryl Fink talks about this opening day footage of the 2008 Canadian commercial seal hunt.
"The seal hunt opened yesterday with activists and journalists complaining they were prevented from witnessing the action because of foot-dragging by officials.
"...Yesterday, federal fisheries officials waited half a day before issuing observer permits to activists and journalists, handing them out after noon, when the weather made flying in helicopters almost impossible.
"One group of activists with the International Fund for Animal Welfare managed to fly out to film some scenes of the hunt's opening day. But journalists from several major international and European news organizations, and representatives of the Humane Society of the United States, were unable to make it to the ice floes."
"Canada's annual commercial seal hunt has got under way amid claims animal welfare groups and media were being prevented from monitoring the killing.
"The Canadian government has set a quota allowing hunters to shoot and club to death 275,000 seals, and has said new regulations will make the hunt more humane.
"But the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) said representatives waiting for permits to monitor what was happening on the ice had been told that none would be issued until the hunt had started.
"Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans had also refused to hand out permits to members of the media until the hunt was under way, Ifaw said."
"The International Fund for Animal Welfare said Thursday that a new regulation that requires hunters to bleed seals before skinning them 'makes no real changes to the way seals can be killed.'
"Under new federal regulations, hunters will be required to sever the arteries under each flipper, thereby ensuring the animals are dead before being skinned.
"But Sheryl Fink, a senior IFAW researcher, said the new regulations call only for 'bleeding to be conducted at some point.'
"'Now that I have seen the actual text of the new condition of licence, I'm left speechless by its inadequacy,' Fink said in a release."
“We will use every avenue we can within the law to keep people as far away from the hunt as we can.” Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, before the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. October, 2006.
And so they did. Today was the opening day of the commercial harp seal hunt here in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and even though we had long ago filled out our observation licence applications, gone through the personal interviews, and paid our licence fees, the seal hunt was opened with not a single observer licence issued.
I came across this statement recently as I was trawling through the fiery debates on the Sky News discussion board. After a little more browsing, I saw that this is a sentiment shared by many Canadians. After all, goes the argument, Europeans cull lots of animals including deer, bears, and foxes. They should deal with their own problems first and let poor, rural Canadians continue to eke out a meagre income by killing seals.
Well, as a Canadian who lives in Europe, I find this proposition a bit mystifying.
After all, don’t Europeans, Canadians and Americans all share a common cultural heritage that says that causing injury to another creature in such a way that is cruel is morally objectionable? In fact, I think you’d be hard-pressed, whether in Europe or North America, to find anybody who could watch a three-month-old infant seal shot or clubbed and left to slowly die in a pool of its own blood and not be sickened. It’s no surprise, then, that more than seven out of ten people in Europe and also in Canada are opposed to the hunt. In fact, I know many Newfoundlanders who loudly protest the hunt.
IFAW Hunt Watch 2008 - A Beautiful, if Somewhat Sober Day Visiting Seals
March 26, 2008
The International Fund for Animal Welfare's J.C. Bouvier filed this report from P.E.I. Canada...
In my role for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) I'm not usually able to get out into the field for actual campaign activities with animals. However on Monday I and my coworker Ed Butler received an offer to go out onto the ice and visit with the maturing harp seal pups on the ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
After discovering the joys of getting into the emblematic orange "Mustang" suits...Ed and I acclimated quickly to our first helicopter ride...our pilot Martin was both very professional and genuinely concerned that everyone on board was comfortable and enjoying the experience...once we spotted beater seal pups...the ride became a surreal landing into the scene I had only witnessed in video and still photographs...and I don't know that I was truly prepared for the beauty, but perhaps more importantly the reality that these creatures could be violently attacked for profit within the coming hours...
Once on the ice, Ed, the other passengers and I worked to both be respectful of the seals space...while trying to get as close as possible...we looked a bit like seals ourselves as we slid quietly toward a pair of beaters who were basking in the sun. They were ultimately very patient and kind while we snapped a few photos and stared in a sort of stunned silence...contemplating our lying on the frozen ocean, working to protect these gentle and timid creatures.
Katie McConnell filed this report from the IFAW hanger in PEI, Canada.
Before the IFAW team headed out to see this year’s harp seal herd in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, we had a safety briefing to help orient ourselves with the helicopters that would be taking us out to see the seals.
Our pilot explained some of the very important safety precautions all of us must take when we enter and exit the machine. The flight team learned how to approach the helicopter, by staying low and always walking in front of the helicopter so the pilot can see us at all times.
Under no circumstances are we to approach the helicopter from behind. Our team leader, Cheryl Jacobson reminded us, “it’s like a horse…never walk up behind one or you’ll get kicked.” Good point – especially since a kick from a tail rotor of a helicopter would most certainly be a fatal one.
We also discussed where the safety equipment – (satellite phones, life rafts, etc.) was located and how we can access it. For most of our briefing, we watched the pilot point out important parts of the helicopter and listened to what we needed to do.
However, for one part we actually had to practice getting in and out of the helicopter as it was hovering a few feet above land. The pilot wasn’t sure if the ice in the gulf was going to be thick enough to support the weight of the machine so we had to approach the helicopter while it was hovering, open the door carefully, distribute our weight evenly and slowly as we climbed in, scoot across the back seat and exit out the other side.
Once we made it out of our hanger and into the gulf, there was plenty of ice and we were able to land safely on it. Luckily we got to see some happy beater seals too. This was my first year seeing baby seals on the ice, and watching them play just made the thought of the commercial seal hunt even more of a disgrace.
IFAW has led the fight to stop the cruel slaughter of seal pups
since the 1960's, resulting in the import ban of newborn whitecoat
seal pelts in 1985. Today, with offices in 15 countries, IFAW is the
world's leading animal welfare
organization, fighting to save seals both on the ice and through vital
scientific and market research.
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!)
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.
Europe plans massive protest against seal hunt
Barbaric Blood-Letting Seal Hunt in Canada
Stop the Seal Hunt
Brussels mulls action on “inhumane” Canadian seal killings
Hunters go in for the kill
Sealing begins in St. Lawrence
IFAW has led the fight to stop the cruel slaughter of seal pups
since the 1960's, resulting in the import ban of newborn whitecoat
seal pelts in 1985. Today, with offices in 15 countries, IFAW is the
world's leading animal welfare
organization, fighting to save seals both on the ice and through vital
scientific and market research.
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