Paul McCartney Visit Seal Nursery Just Days Before Brutal Slaughter Begins

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W: [harpsealcampaign] Heather and Paul McCartney Visit

Seal Nursery Just Days Before Brutal Slaughter Begins

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:46:58 -0800

 

2/27/2006 4:13:58 PM

 

[harpsealcampaign] Heather and Paul

McCartney Visit Seal Nursery Just Days Before Brutal

Slaughter Begins

 

Heather and Paul McCartney Visit Seal Nursery Just

Days Before Brutal Slaughter Begins

 

February 26, 2006

 

WASHINGTON-Later this week, Heather and Paul

McCartney will join The Humane Society of the United

States on the ice floes off the East Coast of Canada

to observe newborn harp seal pups just weeks before

they will be clubbed and shot to death for their fur.

 

The McCartney's trip March 2 and 3 will highlight

the work of two animal protection groups to stop the

Canadian seal hunt, during which hundreds of thousands

of seal pups are killed each year: The HSUS and its

international arm, Humane Society International, and

the UK campaign group Respect for Animals. Both

organizations are working to close global markets for

seal products and to pressure the Canadian government

to end the seal hunt for good.

 

During the last three years alone, the Canadian

government has allowed nearly 1 million seals to be

slaughtered. Fully 97 percent of them were less than 3

months of age, and the majority was less than 1 month

old. A 2001 independent veterinarian report concluded

that close to half of the seals examined were likely

still conscious when skinned, causing " considerable

and unacceptable suffering. "

 

" Heather and Paul's visit to the seal pups will

shine a global media spotlight on this cruel and

needless slaughter, " said Rebecca Aldworth, director

of Canadian wildlife issues for The HSUS. " The

Canadian government must act now to save Canada's

international reputation and put a final end to the

commercial seal hunt. "

 

Today's kill levels meet and even exceed those of

the 1950s and 1960s, when the harp seal population was

reduced by as much as two-thirds. In the 1980s, an EU

ban on the import of the skins from 'whitecoat'

(newborn) seals dramatically reduced the number of

seals killed in the hunt. But today, sealers kill pups

as soon as they have begun to moult—as young as 12

days old—and the skins of these slightly older seals

are legally traded in Europe.

 

Opinion polls consistently show the overwhelming

majority of Canadians, Americans and Europeans oppose

the commercial seal hunt. Mexico, Italy and Greenland

are just the latest countries to take action to ban

the trade in Canadian seal products.

 

-30-

 

The Humane Society of the United States is the

nation's largest animal protection organization

representing more than 9.5 million members and

constituents. The non-profit organization is a

mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in

companion animals and equine protection, disaster

preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat

protection, animals in research and farm animal

welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through

education, investigation, litigation, legislation,

advocacy, and field work. The group is based in

Washington and has numerous field representatives

across the country. On the web at www.hsus.org.

 

 

 

Marie E. Schwartz, CMA

402-216-7109/cell

Boycott Canadian seafood.

www.restaurantsforseals.org

 

 

http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals_approval.html

 

www.boycottcanadianseafood.net

 

" If most of us rounded a corner on a highway and

saw a slaughter like this, we would call the police,

we would scream until our throats gave out, we would

probably charge the men with clubs. We wouldn’t say,

“I’d do something, but there are so many other

problems in the world …” Patti Davis, Newsweek, 4/6/05