Seals Hunts Are "Alive" and Well And Still Going On

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I got an email alert from The Humane Society Of The US about the ongoing seal hunts that take place in Canada...in fact as I write this, they have begun already. Many people are under the assumption that the seal hunts ended in the 1980s when people protested against them then..not so..they are still alive and kicking and the seal hunters club baby seals to death every year. Here's an excerpt from the article at the HSUS website. (Quote) ..." Baby Seal Slaughter Opens at Dawn March 28, 2008 Today marks both the opening of this year's Canadian commercial seal hunt—the largest slaughter of marine mammals on Earth—and the 25th anniversary of the European Union directive banning the trade in fur from newborn seals. Sealers will begin killing 275,000 baby seals today. The 1983 directive brought the Canadian seal hunt to a virtual standstill for a number of years. However, Canadian seal hunters now circumvent the law by killing the pups when they are just a few days older, allowing the legal trade of products from those baby seals in Europe."Today the slaughter of baby seals began again in Canada, largely because Europe continues to import seal products," stated Mark Glover, director of Humane Society International/UK."A comprehensive ban on seal product trade in the European Union will stop the cruelty of commercial seal hunts and finally meet the expectations of the European Parliament and European citizens," Glover continued. In 2006, the European Parliament passed a historic resolution calling on the European Commission to immediately draft legislation banning the trade in seal products, regardless of the age of the seal. Sealers set sail for slaughter yesterday. The European Commission then conducted a study on the animal welfare aspects of commercial seal hunting, the results of which should provide the foundation for a ban. That study found, "in practice, seals are not always effectively killed", seals suffer "pain and distress" during Canada's commercial seal hunt, and "seals may be skinned while conscious.""Just days ago, we stood on the ice floes with beautiful baby seals still covered in white fur. It is heartbreaking that the commercial seal hunt will begin today, and these pups will be brutally clubbed, shot and skinned to produce fashion items nobody needs," stated Rebecca Aldworth, director of Animal Programs for Humane Society International-Canada."The European Union holds the power to right an international wrong by ending its trade in all seal products."Despite mounting pressure from around the world to end the commercial slaughter of seals, the Canadian government authorized seal hunters to kill 275,000 harp seals in 2008, one of the highest quotas in recent history. The slaughter officially opens at dawn on March 28. A sealer kills a pup in the 2005 hunt. This is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on Earth. A large delegation of sealing industry lobbyists traveled to Europe at the request of the Canadian government to lobby against the pending seal product ban. Recent polling shows the overwhelming majority of Canadians are opposed to the commercial seal hunt, and two-thirds of Canadians holding an opinion support European nations banning seal product trade..." http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/marine_mammals_news/seal_slaughter_opens_dawn.html One way to try and stop this slaughter of these beautiful creatures is to boycott buying any seafood products as suggested by HSUS and to sign the petition http://www.hsus.org/index-seals.html There's also a video of this slaughter if you can stomach watching it and on the same page as the link here http://www.hsus.org/index-seals.html