What will 2014 bring for harp seals in Canada?
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

HarpSeals.org
March 2014

Meanwhile, harp seal pups are being born in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. This year, the ice conditions appear to be better than last year (and most of the years of the last decade). There are more ice floes with grey ice or thicker ice, some of them large floes, where harp seal mothers can give birth to their pups without worrying that a storm will break up the ice, sending their babies into the water before they can swim.

The question is, if more pups survive Mother Nature this year, will they still succumb to the blows of a few dozen off-season fishermen with hakapiks?


photo by Eric Baccega

Canada's federal government gave about a half million Canadian dollars to a sealing trade association to fund market development for seal meat late last year. Whether this association will be successful in convincing people in the remaining countries without seal product bans to consume meat that even most sealers and their families refuse to eat is a mystery.

harp seal cubThen the provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador gave $60,000 this year to another sealing group to fund an "awareness" campaign to promote sealing and seal products. We look forward to seeing and responding to the propaganda that results from this (ab)use of taxpayer money.

From March 17 to March 19, hearings will take place in Geneva in the appeal of the WTO decision last year to allow the EU seal product import ban to stand without trade sanctions. Canada will argue that the WTO should overturn its decision. The WTO found that the EU ban was justified because EU citizens deemed the seal slaughter morally reprehensible. We wholeheartedly agree.
The hearings should take 3 days. The deliberations by the WTO panel will take about a month. We will bring you results as soon as they are announced.

Meanwhile, harp seal pups are being born in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. This year, the ice conditions appear to be better than last year (and most of the years of the last decade). There are more ice floes with grey ice or thicker ice, some of them large floes, where harp seal mothers can give birth to their pups without worrying that a storm will break up the ice, sending their babies into the water before they can swim.

The question is, if more pups survive Mother Nature this year, will they still succumb to the blows of a few dozen off-season fishermen with hakapiks?

Please join us in spreading the word about this unnecessary and cruel slaughter. We urge all compassionate individuals to avoid seafood from this region, especially hake, and to try alternatives to seafood, such as vegan seafood products offered by companies such as Sophie's Kitchen, Vegetarian Plus, and May Wah Vegetarian Market.


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