Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting
Funeral March for the Hunted
Washington DC to New York City 375 km / 235 mi
Start date: March 15, 2005
Experience tells Canadian wildlife preservationist and anti-hunting
activist Anthony Marr http://www.hope-care.org/ that when he informs
people that the annual quota of the Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt is
375,000 out of a total population of 5 million, they react lukewarmly,
some mumbling something about 7 percent, but when he shows them what
375,000 seals look like, they react volcanically, some exclaiming �Oh my
God!�, others �Bastards!� or worse, depending on their religious
orientation.
So, what do 375,000 dead seals really look like? If lined up nose to
tail, at one meter per seal, 375,000 seals would form a single file
stretching 375 kilometers or 235 miles � the exact distance between
Washington DC and New York City.
In the Animal Rights 2004 conference, Anthony Marr spoke on �Engage
Media�. �It is well known that in real estate, the three key words for
success are �location, location, location�. In activism, the three key
words are �media, media, media�. Basically, what the public did not see on
TV did not happen,� he said. �So, to engage media. What you need are seven
essential ingredients, the more used per event, the better, all if
possible:
1. The event must be original (not copycat);
2. it must be creative (as outlandish as possible as long as it works -
without damaging the movement as a whole);
3. it must be new to media (bearing in mind that something new is new
only once at one place);
4. it must be photogenic (TV-friendly; an newspaper article without a
photo is weak);
5. it must be difficult and/or dangerous to execute (what few would
dare to attempt);
6. it must offer a new viewpoint on an old and hackneyed issue
(rejuvenated perception); and
7. it must be transformative (from dry statistics to heart-rending
visions).�
Abiding by his own advice, Marr executed an event in March 2001, called
the Funeral March for the Hunted, where he walked 100 km (about 60 mi)
along Hwy 7 from Mission City to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,
carrying a Canadian flag with the maple leaf colored black, and a sign
saying �Civilize Canada� on one side and �End the barbaric Seal Hunt� on
the other. When asked by media for a sound bite, he said, �100 km is the
length of a single file of 100,000 dead seals at one meter per seal; you
would have to drive a full hour at highway speed to go from one end to the
other.
If you think this is outrageous, consider further that 100,000 is less
than one third of the total number. Canada kills 350,000 seals per year.
The line would stretch 350 km, all the way from Vancouver to Kamloops. You
would have to drive 4 hours at highway speeds to go from one end of the
line to the other. Frankly, I don�t have time to walk that far, but you
get the picture.� And the people in British Columbia too got the picture,
loud and clear, since all major BC media, and many minor media along the
march route, covered the event, some more than once. Upon further
questioning, Marr talked about the cruelty inherent in the industry and
the scapegoating of seals for the declined of the North Atlantic Cod
precipitated in fact by overfishing � a human travesty.
Now, in 2005, in view of the U.S. Senate urging Canada to stop the
hunt, and the HSUS unleashing its Boycott Canada campaign, Marr feels that
a large-scale Funeral March for the Hunted could just be the final push
needed to send the seal hunt to the abyss.
According to the above, Marr has determined to execute Funeral March
for the Hunted 2005 from the Capitol building in Washington DC to the
United Nations Headquarters in New York City, via Baltimore, Wilmington,
Philadelphia, Trenton, Princeton and Newark, to generate maximum national
and international coverage of the issue. The departure date has been set
for March 15, to coincide with the HSUS�s continental day of protest. The
duration depends on the amount of speaking engagements enroute. He will be
carrying a Canadian flag with a ban-sign superimposed on the maple leaf.
Anthony Marr will be inviting activists to join him on the March, in
whole or part, each carrying a sign or banner of his/her own making.
He will also explore the possibility of organizing many simultaneous
marches across the land. This organizing effort would not be too
difficult, given the existence of the Global Anti-Hunting Coalition which
Marr formed on his 38-states-in-7.5-months Compassion for Animals Road
Expedition CARE tour � see http://www.hope-care.org/ .
More than awareness-raising and action-generating (e.g. boycotting
Canadian fisheries products and tourism), this is also a fund-raising
event, to further advance Anthony Marr�s effort to protect the seals in
particular and wildlife in general (e.g. seals, Bengal tigers, grizzly
bears, whales, dolphins, etc. - see http://www.hope-care.org/ ). We ask
that you make a generous pledge or donation for this march.
Further, please forward this email in its entirety to your friends and
email-list contacts.
�I�ll be 61 when the March starts. I want to put my legs to some
positive use while they still work,� said Anthony Marr.
Return to Terminate the Canadian Seal Massacre
Since 