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 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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

We decided to head out anyway.

IFAW 2008 Seal Hunt PSA - "Animal Welfare" from IFAW on Vimeo.

Longtime International Fund for Animal Welfare Supporter D'arcy Callahan speaks about his 21 years of involvement with IFAW.

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.

More to come...

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.

This report was filed by IFAW Seal Communications Officer Katie McConnell...

In preparation for HuntWatch, our team has to complete a myriad of tasks before arriving in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Most tasks are fairly standard…gather key footage, pack up video cameras and editing equipment, organize information for DFO observer permits, etc., etc. This year however, we added a less conventional task that needed to be completed…an underwater aircraft ditching course! Now you may ask what an underwater aircraft ditching course has to do with seals, but the answer is very simple.

In light of last year’s global warming disaster in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, our team had to fly almost exclusively over open water. Not to mention we haven’t been able to land our helicopter on a solid piece of ice since 2005! The team realized it would be in our best interest to have a bit of training under our belts on how to survive in the “unlikely event of a water landing.” Sure, makes total sense on paper, but what does this training actually entail? How about getting into an open-ended piece of fuselage, strapping yourself to a chair, closing your eyes and waiting for the entire thing to be dunked into a swimming pool and tipped upside down underwater? I’m not kidding.

Our observation team headed to Survival Systems, Inc. in Groton, CT to learn how to get ourselves safely out of a submerged helicopter. The staff there was extremely knowledgeable and took us step-by-step through the skills we needed to escape through windows and doors in order to get to the surface of the water. The system was pretty easy to grasp. We were advised to stay seated and strapped to our chairs as the water rushed in through the floor and the simulator tipped upside down.

The thinking here was to keep us in one spot with a constant orientation to the window or door next to us. As long as we stayed in the same position, we couldn’t float around the cabin or lose our way out. After several hours of practice in the pool (luckily it was 80 degrees) and about 5 or 6 escapes, we all felt pretty confident in our aircraft ditching abilities. We now have a lot more respect for the safety precautions we take before flying out over the Gulf as well as invaluable skills in how to save our own lives should we ever be faced with a ditching situation. Of course, as luck would have it, now that we are freshly trained in underwater egress, there seems to be ice in the gulf ;-)

The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is proposing amendments be made to the Marine Mammal Regulations (MMR) in an effort to further hinder public observation of the commercial seal hunt. Although no text has been proposed at this time, changes to these amendments would give the Fisheries Minister more power to deny observer permits with little or no justification. Essentially, these changes will help keep Canada’s cruel commercial seal hunt out of the public eye.

In addition, it has been cited that DFO intends to have these changes in place for the 2008 hunt. It seems as though DFO is trying to ‘fast-track’ the process and bypass adequate consultation with the public. For instance, the last time the MMR were amended, the consultation process took 5 years!

IFAW has reviewed the proposed amendments and submitted comments back to DFO stating that these changes are an unnecessary and overreaching infringement of our right to observe the hunt.

With two national bans on seal products in place in Europe and a possible EU-wide ban looming in the future; it seems Canada is trying very hard to shield its cruel and useless slaughter from policy-makers of the world.

Click here to tell Canada that their seal hunting practices need proper observation by organizations like IFAW.

The South Florida paper, the Sun-Sentinel posted this last report about a bearded Arctic seal, hundreds of miles from where it should have been found...which swam into the Tarpon River in Florida two days ago...was then chased for hours by local officals and Sea World vetinary team members...and then after subsequent capture and attemps at rehydration...died while these same teams were trying to rehabilitate the lost creature.

Speculation about why the seal was so far from home turned from the reasoning of potential strange currents, or the chase of a mating partner to the broader question of Global Climate Change.

Could it be that the changes to the worlds temperature and rising seas are throwing these marine mammals off course?  The autopsy is under way...so hopefully some answers will be forthcoming shortly...but quite a question to ask...

Name: Josh L
Location: Boise, ID
United States of America
Message: Please stop the Canadian Seal Massacre - this inhumane hunt has gone on for far too long!

Name: Valeria S
Location: Waipahu, HI
United States of America
Message: We are part of huge net in where the balance is essential. We are destroying this balance and soon or late we are going to pay for that. We need to support IFAW's Seal Campaign to stop this massacre!

Name: Jonathan C
Location: Miami, FL
United States of America
Message: Animals were in this world first. They are our elders, they deserve respect.

Name: Birgit B
Location: Athens, Greece
Message: This is the most cruel and totally useless brutal slaughter of any kind of animal. I thought Canadian people are civilized?! How come that 98% of the population, who are supposedly against this, have not been able to stop a bunch of barbarians??

Name: Anais L
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Message: Support IFAW's Seal Campaign and end with this cruelty! The continuous invasion of natural areas, and consumption ends in devastation, we should worry more about the balance between nature and humane society because this planet is our only home.

Name: Donna Y
Location: Montreal, Canada
Message: We are, as a society, becoming more and more desensitized to cruel and brutal behaviors. It's time that we all begin to think of the voiceless victims of our insatiable appetite for nonessential adornment.

If you haven't signed up for a profile alreday, sign up now and you might be a featured supporter!

Green.TV has recently posted the IFAW 'Melting Ice' video to their website.  IFAW has a number of 2007 Canadian Seal Hunt videos posted up on our YouTube.com/ifawvideo channel, but this piece is a much richer overview of the situation, check out the link to Green.TV here.

Post by Sheryl Fink

We're still weathered in, looking out my window I can't even see the buildings across the road through the blustering snow. As we pack up our base camp, I am thinking a little about this year's trip to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

I had been a bit worried about how we would be received in Atlantic Canada this year. There has been a lot of talk in the media about people trying to "boycott" seal hunt observers, that we would not be given food or accomodation, that locals don't want us here because we bring negative attention to the areas we go to, and so forth. After the stories of the angry mob scenes that greeted hunt observers last year, I was expecting much hostility and anger to be coming our way.

But I have to say, over the past two weeks everybody I have encountered in Charlottetown, the Magdalen Islands, and Newfoundland has been nothing but friendly, helpful, and kind to us. They say that Atlantic Canadians are the friendliest people in the world, and in my 6 years of coming here I'd have to agree with that. When we are out at the hunt, we try to stay low-key. We aren't there to protest or attract attention to ourselves: we are there to document and observe the seal hunt, not cause problems. We try to treat people the way we would want to be treated ourselves, and even in Newfoundland - where there is somewhat of a deep-seated resentment of IFAW - people there were respectful and friendly, even when they knew who we were. Last summer I spent my vacation in the Magdalen Islands, and hope to return to PEI this summer with my family. I love it here: this is a wonderful place, with wonderful people.

I sympathize with those people who are concerned about negative media attention being placed on their region. But it is the seal hunt itself - not those of us who come here to observe it - that is the cause of any negative attention that may occur.  And just as people in Charlottetown might not like their reputation being tarnished by the annual seal hunt fracas that arrives on their doorstep each March, so are Canadians all across the country embarassed by the image this seal hunt gives us as a nation. Canada's commercial seal hunt is a stain on our reputation. But until our government has the cojones to stand up to the powerful fur and fishing industries, it will continue. And it will continue to hurt all of us.

Posted by Sheryl Fink

We flew back out into the Strait of Belle Isle this morning looking for the sealers. After being grounded for a day, it can be tricky to find the boats again. So we went to the last known coordinates with the intention of moving north (where the boats had been headed) and west (where we had been told there was a patch of seal pups) to try and find where sealing activity was now taking place. Spotting the Coast Guard vessel "Amundsen" on the horizon made our task much easier, since the sealing boats were still clustered around it like baby ducklings. But something was different today. None of the boats were sealing. In fact, many had battened down the hatches and appeared to be headed south back to the Magdalen Islands. Was it possible that the quota had already been taken?

Bewildered, we called DFO. So far 6600 seals have been reported killed, but no, the regional quota had not yet been reached.

Then we remembered the weather forecast we had been concerned about earlier in the morning: a storm was moving in, and they were calling for winds upwards of 160 km/h and snow squalls giving near zero visibilities. Not exactly the stuff you want to be flying a helicopter in, but you woudn't want to be stuck on a sealing boat miles from home in that either. With no prospect of documenting the hunt over the next few days, we decamped. It's always a tough call to leave, we know the hunting will eventually resume, and it often continues on into May. But, we have achieved our goal of getting footage of the cruelty of Canada's seal hunt. And we will continue to work and use this footage over the course of the year to show the unacceptable and unnecessary suffering that is inherent in this hunt, to encourage countries to ban seal products, and to work towards the ultimate end of the cruel slaughter of seal pups in Canada.

IFAW Senior Researcher Sheryl Fink has been an observer of the hunt for the past 6 years

We're grounded today - April 6th - by low cloud, freezing rain, you name it. So I'm finally getting a chance to get caught up on work, email, and reading some of the news that has been printed over the past week.

A number of stories, including one in the Washington Post really burn my britches, because the media is continuing to promote a whole new whack of DFO myths about the seal hunt this year.

Myth 1. DFO has reduced the quota becuase of poor ice conditions this year.

Okay, this may be partly true. But the other part that isn't getting mentioned in the news this week is that DFO also had to reduce the quota because they know that recent quotas are unsustainable In order to stay within their 5 year management plan (which, if you ask, does not even exist. Call DFO and ask for a copy, if you are lucky you might get a press release and backgrounder but not a management plan) these quotas are going to need to drop even more next year, and they are going to need to drop a lot, and DFO (or at least someone there) knows it.

At first I wondered why Hearn included the 19,000 "carry forward" into the 270,000, rather than pulling last year's stunt of adding these "extra" allocations on top and making the quota sound even bigger, thus making more sealers and fishermen happier, which seems to be what drives this Minister's decisions (not that this is unusual).

But then I realized that maybe someone in DFO is brighter than we give them credit  for. Because if the quota stays at even 270,000 for the next couple of years, in order to keep within the (non-existent) plan it is going to have to be cut to something like 150,000, probably lower, and that is going to be a cut no Minister wants to make. But it has to be done, and by including the 19,000 the Minister (whoever that may be) can cover their butt somewhat and use it to justify the even bigger cut that will be necessary next year.

I won't even get into the absurdity of having a "carry forward" quota of 19,000, when in fact the total allowable catch last year was exceeded by almost 20,000 animals. That kind of silliness should be obvious to everyone, but I don't think it has been mentioned at all in the media coverage.

Last night, I heard from my colleagues who had moved the hunt observation operation to Newfoundland to document the sealing activity in the northern gulf.  The weather cleared finally and they were able to observe what is really going on out there.  As I watched the footage back at our base in Charlottetown, what really struck me was the realization that if the team from IFAW wasn’t in the northern gulf filming all day long yesterday, the world would have no idea the kind of cruelty is really taking place off the coast of Newfoundland. 

I am grateful that they are able to bring the reality of this unnecessary and unsustainable hunt to the public eye. Logistically, documenting the hunt is not easy work.  It is hours spent anxiously scanning the gulf region looking for boats because the Department of Fisheries and Oceans won’t release the specific coordinates of where hunting is taking place. And it is witnessing cruelty first-hand and then having to watch the hours of tape to make sure we document every violation that has been seen.  As this hunt continues, I am seeing the toll that it takes on our frontline team members.  I have heard the changes in their voices – they are tired and obviously affected by what they are seeing.  Yet they persevere.

Today, our team will not be heading out due to poor weather conditions. However, as early as tomorrow another area may open to hunting - the area they call the "Front" off the coast of Newfoundland. If that is the case, our team will do their best to get the helicopters up, find the hunt and document the cruelty in an effort to expose this hunt for what it really is - unacceptably inhumane.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare has been on the ice for over 30 years observing this hunt, documenting the cruelty and waste and fighting to bring an end once and for all.  Join with us  - take action and join our growing global online community of activists. 

The IFAW team has been scouting the waters off the coast of Newfoundland for the last day and a half. Yesterday, we had very little luck finding any sealing activity. In fact, there were even difficulties finding herds of beater seal pups. Several concentrations of adult seals were spotted but we were unable to find any hunting activity. Where are the beater seals? Tragically, I worry that many of these younger seals may have perished before the hunt opened.

Our team continued out today to survey the area and we are currently observing 3 sealing vessels. We’re working to document any hunting activity and our photographer and videographer are on-site to capture any instances of cruelty that may occur. This year continues to be very different from other observation events and even the Canadian government is having trouble getting their own officials out on the ice. Yesterday, several fisheries ministers had to observe the hunt from a Coast Guard vessel instead of from the ice. DFO officials concur that this year’s ice conditions are extremely poor and are hindering the sealing industry’s hunting capabilities. In normal years a single boat could bring back anywhere 500 and 700 seals, so far this year sealers are pulling in around 50 or 60. We hope that the government will acknowledge the serious effect that global warming is having on this seal population and that decision makers will ultimately take this man-made strain off of Canada’s harp seal herd.

Today, the seal hunt in the northern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence opens. Our team is poised to document any hunting activity that can be observed. Conditions in the north are expected to be different than what was observed last week in the southern gulf. There is still some ice coverage and it is likely that hunters will have an easier time accessing what seals are up there.

Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans has permitted our observation staff to view the hunt from our helicopter. It has been estimated that the bulk of the seal hunting in the gulf region will take place up in the northern areas off the coast of Newfoundland. Hunting activity is likely to ramp up over the next few days and IFAW will be there, as it has been for the past 30 years, to document the cruelty associated with this unnecessary hunt.

Tomorrow, the seal hunt in the southern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is set to open. This hunt covers the area we’ve been visiting for the past two weeks. All of the seals that are in our most recent footage and the still images which we’ve fed out to the global news markets are now targets for tomorrow’s hunt. Many of the whitecoat seals we spotted two weeks ago are starting to molt their fur and become silvery beater pups. These same seals, which were illegal to hunt two weeks ago, are now fair game for sealers.

The Canadian government often criticizes us for calling the hunted seals “babies.” They like to say that while whitecoats are babies, beaters are not. What the government neglects to say is that beaters are only two weeks older than whitecoats – they are essentially pups, still in their formative stages. Still learning how to swim. Still learning how to feed themselves. Sometimes, these seals haven’t even had their first solid meal. These are the seals that the hunters will target tomorrow.

Today, IFAW’s surveillance team headed out to the Cabot Strait again to see what was out there. The report back was that there was even more open water than in previous flights. This lack of ice won’t stop the hunters from collecting their share of the 270,000 seals the government allows to be killed. In these conditions, seals are shot in the open water and often times drown before they can be retrieved.

IFAW's Senior Researcher Sheryl Fink talks about IFAW's short term goals for the Canadian seal hunt.

After working on IFAW’s seal campaign for the past several months, today I actually had the rare opportunity to see some seals in their natural habitat. As luck would have it there was room in our helicopter for me to squeeze in the back and head out to the ice floes I’ve written so much about over the past few months. It was pretty much the coolest thing I’ve done in a long time. I headed out with our pilot and seal expert Sheryl Fink to survey the situation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. My only impression of the place we were about to go was from the many photos IFAW has of seals on the ice. However, this year is very different. All we saw was slushy ice and small pans and my expectations were pretty low for seeing any seals on my trip. But I got really lucky. Sheryl spotted a huge hooded seal with a small blueback pup on an ice pan close in by the Magdelene Islands. There was my seal! She was so much bigger than I expected. This mother sat on the pan with her baby and she snarled at us as we approached. We made our way along the coast, and spotted more and more hooded seals – all in all I think we saw around 100. Global warming is hitting the Gulf pretty hard this year and the ice pans may be too small to land, but I was pretty happy to see this little group of hooded seals from my window in the helicopter.

Katie McConnell is IFAW's Seal Campaign Communications Officer based at the International Headquarters in Cape Cod,MA

After scanning the southern section of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, very few harp seals have been spotted.  Of the few that have been seen, there is growing concern that the ice in this region is not big enough to support the weight and space needed for the young white coats to nurse...and so many may wind up abandoned by their mothers and ultimately may die.

The issues surrounding both the reasons why this year's ice is so poor and the politics of the upcoming decision by the Canadian government to continue to hunt this depreciating population of marine mammals are coming to a head. 

IFAW's team of researchers, field personnel and communications staff is currently preparing to make sure when the time comes, that these defenseless creatures will have a voice in Canada, the EU and the world at large.

Stay tuned for ongoing campaign updates from our team members and please donate or take action today and send a message to the Canadian government that sealing is a cruel and unnecessary practice and should be stopped right now!

IFAW Senior Research and Projects Specialist Sheryl Fink discusses the current environment surrounding the 2007 Canadian Seal Hunt.  Watch this short video (1:44) and stay tuned!

Hey, J.C. Bouvier here with an update on our arrival into our base camp in P.E.I. Canada. So, on our way into Halifax, Ed Butler and I were warmly welcomed by the customs officals who kindly asked us to stop by immigration on our way through. 

The young lady behind the desk asked both Ed and I what it was exactly we were to be doing during our stay...to which Ed and I replied honestly...we would be gathering video and audio for this blog among other things.  This declaration caused the young immigration person to review some Canadian law, codes and other miscellaneous facts and figures...at the end of the 35 minute exchange...we were told that we would need work permits:  Cost $150 Canadian dollars each.   D'oh!

The photo you see of Ed shows his glee upon receiving the news...added benefit...due to the missed flight we were able to take in a bit of the local food, beverage and entertainment...including 3 holes of Golden Tee 2004...

Ed Butler +9
J.C. Bouvier +3

Ed Butler and JC Bouvier are members of IFAW's Online Campaigns and Marketing department based at the International Headquarters on Cape Cod, MA

So the 2007 Canadian seal hunt may not take place in the southern Gulf...this story in the Canadian Guardian reports the following:

Canadian Press

CHARLOTTETOWN (CP) - Fisheries officials are urging seal hunters to be patient as they decide whether there are enough seals and ice in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence for a hunt this year.

Fisheries Department spokesman Phil Jenkins says the ice is poor in the southern Gulf around the Magdalen Islands and there's a higher-than-normal mortality of seal pups.

He says it's not certain a hunt can take place this year in the southern Gulf, which is the area that traditionally gives rise to the most controversy because it is accessible to observers and seal hunt protesters.

Click here for the full story.

At the same time, one of our staffers received this note...

Dear IFAW co-workers,

This letter is directed to the people who will leave to Canada this year to capture the seal slaughtering on camera. I hope these words will reach them. I can’t even image how horrible it must be to see the slaughtering in real; I get tears in my eyes when I only think about it. However; it is very important to use video material to confront people with the facts of life. Filming these is a job for animal lovers, but yet for them the hardest. Therefore I want to express my gratitude to you by means of this letter. I wish you all the strength on this difficult trip. Let’s pray that this cruelty to seals will soon be finally over!

--

Well looks like we may not have to this year...but you never know, these predictions turn on a dime...stay tuned!

So...this is J.C. Bouvier, IFAW's Online Community Coordinator,...I'm about to host an informative event in Second Life, which (although I didn't realize it at the time) is the offical launch of our seal campaign for 2007. 

Check out our space on Progressive Island.  128, 144, 25

Many things surrounding the Canadian seal hunt will be talked about, debated, and viewed over the next few weeks...but what strikes me as most important as we get into it...is the importance of civility in the conversation...th