By Katie Schneider
The Cochrane Eagle
12 July 2006

Anthony Marr wants your attention � and the attention of everyone on the western side of the Rogers Pass.

On July 15, the wildlife preservationist and founder of Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE) will conduct a �funeral motorcade for the seals� between Banff and Calgary, stopping in Canmore and Cochrane, to protest Canada�s seal hunt and demonstrate how far 325,000 dead seals would stretch if lined up in single file.

He said at one metre per seal, 325,000 seals would stretch 325 kilometres along the Trans-Canada Highway from Calgary to the Rogers Pass.

�The next time (people) drive to Banff I want them to think of a line of dead seals on the highway,� he said from Vancouver.

�I want to convert a dry number into a horrendous vision that will hit people on the gut level,� he said. �Anyone with compassion will probably take action given that vision.�

Marr will leave Vancouver on July 13 and arrive in Banff on July 15 where he will be joined by 10 cars of members of the Sea Shepherd Calgary Chapter (SSCC), a non-profit group who helped organize the motorcade.

The groups will arrive in Cochrane at around 10:30 a.m. and meet in a parking lot on Highway 1A.

At 11 a.m. they will depart for Calgary where Marr will give three lectures between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. at the Central Library, sponsored by SSCC.

This motorcade will be the second one of many Marr will conduct with local animal rights groups in the next five months. He is scheduled to cover 40,000 kilometres and travel to 35 states and six provinces on his fourth Compassion for Animals Road Expedition (CARE).

His main argument against what he calls the seal �massacre� is that some seals are supposedly skinned alive.

�If people don�t think being skinned alive isn�t excruciating, ask them to peel back a loose hangnail . . . ,� he said.

Marr added the Canadian government claims only two per cent are killed by being skinned alive, but he said even so, that is a large amount equating to about 7,000 seals � about seven kilometres or about 35 city blocks.

Marr said people who support the hunt argue that killing seals protects the supply of cod, but he suggests seals eat about three per cent of the cod.

Karen Orr, member of the SSCC, said the group is taking part in promoting awareness about the seal hunt because they share Marr�s philosophy.

�We want to keep it on the new government�s mind to stop it before it starts again in March.�
 

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