Israel Joins Global Seal-Hunting Protest

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Israel joins global seal-hunting protest

 

 

 

Demonstrations in more than 50 countries, including

Israel, to be held

in

front of Canadian embassies in protest of mass seal

slaughter

By Tal Eitan and Dan Bentsur

TEL AVIV - Israeli wildlife protection organizations

are scheduled to

participate in a worldwide protest against the

slaughter of Harp seals

in

Canada.

Israeli wildlife protection organizations are

scheduled to hold a

demonstration on Tuesday, March 15 at 3 P.M. (8 A.M.

EST) in front of

the

Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv, in protest of the

government authorized

commercial slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Harp

seals in north

Canada,

which is expected to reach its peak during the spring.

The demonstration is part of the International

Simultaneous rallies are expected to take place in

front of Canadian

embassies in over 50 countries, including the U.S,

Mexico, and several

European and South American countries.

 

According to Alona Haruvi of Israel4wildlife , which

is organizing the

rally

along with The Israeli Society for the Abolition of

Vivisection (ISAV)

, the

seal-hunting season peaks between March and May.

During this period female seals go onshore to whelp,

making it easier

to

hunt them in large numbers, she says.

3-year plan to kill a million seals

" Wildlife protection organizations worldwide are

holding simultaneous

protests to expose this slaughter to the media and the

public so as to

apply

pressure on the Canadian government to end the

slaughter for good, " she

says. " The U.S. Senate and Congress are applying

pressure as well. "

Wildlife protection organizations estimate that 96

percent of the seals

slaughtered are between 12 days and 12 weeks old, as

at this age they

are

still unable to swim and therefore are easier to hunt

down.

Haruvi says the protests are focusing on

Canada because that is where the most extensive

slaughter of seals in

the

last 50 years is taking place.

" In no other country is there authorization to hunt

seals in such

quantities, " she says.

Haruvi says the harm done to the species is even

greater.

The seal pups left to die of hunger on the ice

following their mothers'

slaughter, and the seals that do manage to escape

after they are shot,

but

later die in the water are not included in the

statistics, she says.

" The 350,000 annual figure is merely an official

number; in reality,

tens of

thousands more seals are killed,” she says.

Killing seals to make aphrodisiacs

Canada is entering the second year of its new

three-year " management

plan "

for harp seals. The plan, devised by Canada's

Department of Fisheries

and

Ocean (DFO) , allows sealers to kill 975,000 harp

seals over three

years.

In two of those three years, sealers may kill as many

as 350,000 harp

seals.

The current quota marks a significant increase from

the annual

slaughter of

275,000 seals before the plan came into effect.

The seals are killed for their pelts, their penises

(which are used to

make

aphrodisiacs in Asian markets), oil (which Canada

promotes as a health

supplement), and meat.

 

 

 

According to the U.S. Humane Society , the Canadian

government and

fishing

industry claim that seals in the North Atlantic must

be culled because

they

eat too many Cod Fish.

 

 

 

However, two of the government's own scientists

reported that the true

cause

of the depletion of cod in the North Atlantic was

over-fishing.

 

 

 

(03.12.05, 17:47)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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