Fellow activists:
Now that the seal massacre season is again upon us, and many people
will be writing letters, I venture to make an observation, to which I
myself abide.
After over a decade of involvement in the anti-sealing movement,
especially after receiving a form letter back from the DFO which matched
word for word the form letter received by Steve Thompson three years
before, I have come to the conclusion that writing letters to Loyola
Hearn et al is a total and complete waste of time.
If a person is to write only one letter, which I believe is fairly
close to the average (considering the number of people who don't write
any letter at all), then write it to the government of a chosen country
in Europe or Asia (incl. esp. China and Russia) to urge that country to
ban Canadian seal products. Simplest would be to just send the letter to
the embassy of that country.
Oh, and by the way, please do by all means coolly CC a copy to Mr.
Hearn without stooping to address him directly. Even if insult is the
impulse, it is a greater insult to ignore someone where it matters than
to scream in his face. But the more important point is that you are
writing a letter to people who will listen, than to those who won't.
Your letter may make it all the way up to the EU Parliament, instead of
the waste paper basket of Mr. Hearn.
Below is a sample letter to the German embassador in Ottawa, to serve
as an example. It was indeed CCed to Hearn. Now that he sees Germany
moving to ban Canadian seal products (whether or not it has anything to
do with the letter), every letter to a foreign government CCed to him
will cause a frown, instead of the sneer that the usual "Dear. Hon.
Hearn, you axxhole..." type of letter would bring.
Even without considering Loyola Hearn, these letters to Europe and
Asia need be written anyway, so why not take this annual flash in the
pan as an opportunity to do it, and do it on a massive scale?
I believe that the first letter is always the most impactful.
Subsequent letters would be considered PSs. Especially those who have
already written to Hearn, writing him five more times will make no
difference, but writing five letters to five foreign givernments could
make all the difference in the world.
Anthony Marr, founder
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
www.HOPE-CARE.org
September 4, 2006
To: The Federal Republic of Germany
Dear Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany:
As a Canadian citizen and a wildlife preservationist, I am writing to
ask your government to please ban the importation of all Canadian seal
products, as several countries are already doing, and some other
countries, including Belgium, are giving it their serious consideration.
The Canadian commercial seal hunt is by far the largest, most cruel,
most brutal and least justifiable slaughter of marine mammals in
history. At one metre per seal, the 325,000 baby seals killed in Canada
every year would form a single file 325 km in length along a highway.
When presented with reports about 10% to 40% of the seals being killed
inhumanely, the Canadian government answered by saying that "only" 2%
were killed inhumanely. Even 2% of 325,000 is 6,500. In many cases,
being killed "inhumanely" means being skinned alive. And all for what?
Fur coats for Russia and China, and Germany?
Please find below a letter I sent to the Embassy of Belgium in
Ottawa, Canada, which you will find self-explanatory. I hope that
Germany will join the increasing number of civilized nations in the
world in opposing this barbaric industry which has no place in the 21st
Century.
Sincerely,
Anthony Marr, founder
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
4118 West 11th Ave., Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada V6R 2L6
www.HOPE-CARE.org
Dear Ambassador and Citizens of Belgium:
As a Canadian, and a wildlife preservationist, I am deeply grateful
to your country for seriously considering the importation ban of
Canadian seal products.
In fact, as a Canadian, I am writing to ask your country to further
consider banning all products from my country until the heinous
commercial seal massacre has been terminated.
Some may consider this an act of treason on the part of a Canadian
citizen to make such a request upon a foreign government, but many who
have heard my speeches at home and abroad understand that this is a plea
from a concerned and informed Canadian for Belgium to help save the
reputation of my country worldwide, since our own politicians would not
take such a necessary step.
Please pay no attention to the shameful and shameless manipulations
of fisheries minister Loyola Hearn, who is broadly reviled by most
Canadians outside of his home province of Newfoundland, which I will
dissect by the following three points:
1. Mr. Hearn is blaming the seals for the incompetence of his own
ministry in the decimation of the Atlantic cod fishery. The seals, in
fact are the benefactors of cod, serving as a population control of the
twenty or so other species of cod-predators. Were the seals destroyed,
these predatory fish would destroy what remains of the cod almost
overnight.
2. Mr. Hearn's assertion that killing baby seals is the sealers'
livelihood is blatantly false. The sealing season lasts for only two
weeks per year. Killing seals is nothing more than a part-time job. Many
sealers do it because they love to kill, not because they need to. A
U.S. citizen, Ms. Cathy Kangas of Connecticut, has offered the sealers
U.S. $16 million to stop the hunt, and they have flatly declined,
proving
that it is not an economic issue.
3. Mr. Hearn's worst manipulation of all is to try to "guilt trip"
Belgium into submission. Historical and universal wisdom has it that
when one does another a favor, it is a gift, not a bargain, not a trade.
When a gift is given, one should NEVER expect, nor even hope for, a
return. Hearn's mouthing of his very despicable words has dishonored all
Canadians, and cheapened the sacrifices of those Canadians who have
given their lives to a noble cause.
In closing, I would like to say one thing in which I do agree with
Mr. Hearn, and that is to invite EU members to observe the seal
massacre, which will prove even more convincing than our video, which,
by the way, is less than one year old, not 20 years old as in Mr.
Hearn's deceitful claim, but in such a manner so that Mr. Hearn could
not employ his deviousness to stage a picture-book presentation.
Most sincerely yours,
Anthony Marr
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Hearn invites EU members to observe seal hunt
Fri. Sep. 1 2006 12:59 PM ET
Canadian Press
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Canada's fisheries minister has chosen a novel
way to persuade politicians in Belgium to reconsider a plan to ban
imports of Newfoundland seal products.
Loyola Hearn, in Brussels this week to meet with the European Union's
fisheries commissioner to discuss foreign overfishing, said he reminded
the Belgians of the many Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in
Belgium during the First World War.
The Newfoundland MP said an import ban would amount to "taking the
livelihood away from a number of Canadians whose family members left
their blood on the fields here in Belgium, Flanders fields and other
places.
"That got their attention,'' he told St. John's radio station VOCM.
"But the thing is they are looking much more seriously at what we're
saying and have agreed to look for the facts.''
Hearn said he extended an invitation to members of the European
Parliament to visit Canada and learn more about the seal hunt.
"I've sort of challenged them to look for the truth, for the facts,
and to visit Canada to make up their own minds. Don't base their
decisions on ... what they heard and seen from lobby groups who are
using 20-year-old videos.''
Hearn said he raised the issue of the seal hunt after he learned that
members of the Belgian Parliament were in the process of introducing
legislation to ban the importation of seal products.
Anthony Marr, founder
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Compassion for Animals Road Expeditions (CARE)
www.HOPE-CARE.org
[email protected]
[email protected]
Vancouver # 604-222-1169
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