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Terminate the Canadian Seal Massacre

Terminate the Canadian Seal Massacre

West coast seal hunt on the horizon?

From: Anthony Marr
Date: Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:18 am
Subject: West coast seal hunt on the horizon?

There is a ominous dark band sitting on the western horizon. It has been brewing there for several years. Yesterday, one of the dark clouds rolled over, and cast a shadow upon us.

During the anti-seal-hunt demo in Vancouver (in which over 80 people participated), a native person in a native straw hat approached me and handed me a pamphlet. I thought he looked vaguely familiar. Being the polite person that I am, I thanked him for coming without looking at the pamphlet first. Next minute, I realized that the pamphlet was in praise of the health benefits of seal oil. Then, it dawned on me that he was none other than Roy Jones, one of the hereditary chiefs of the Haida Nation in the Queen Charlottes Islands.

Back in about 2000, I received a call from Rafe Mair, then the leading talkshow host on CKNW, inviting me to go on his program to debate Roy Jones for a full hour on his proposed West Coast Seal Hunt. The Harbour seal population on the entire west coast number only about 110,000, and Jones proposed to "harvest" 50,000 annually, and "bring $7 million into the Canadian economy". He was blatant about making it a commercial seal hunt, but of course he used the justification of protecting salmon from seal predation. Thankfully, I had done my homework beforehand, and presented to the listening audience irrefutable evidence, extracted from government documents themselves, that the populations of seals and salmon are in direct proportion, i.e., more seals, more salmon; fewer seals, fewer salmon.

This was demonstrated beyond doubt in river after river, from the 1930s to the 1990s. Between 1939 and 1969, there was indeed a west coast seal hunt. By the 1960s, the seal population had become decimated, and so did the salmon runs in the rivers. The hunt was ended in 1970, and by the 1990s, the seal population had recovered, and so did the salmon runs. I presented hard figures river by river, until Mair halted me and said that he himself was convinced.

In our 2005 Vancouver anti-sealing demo, Jones took advantaged of our labour of love, placed himself in front of the CBC-TV camera during the demo yesterday, and, as it worked out, he got more air time on the CBC-TV coverage of the demo than we did. He was still saying the same things as he did on the Mair debate five years ago, only that he seemed more determined than even to get the hunt started.

We ignore him at our peril, and the seals'.

Anthony Marr, founder
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Compassion for Animals Road Expeditions (CARE)
http://www.HOPE-CARE.org
http://www.Omni-Science.org
[email protected]
604-222-1169, toll free 1-866-822-1169
 

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