See photos from the event!

Press Release:

San Francisco, CA, December 8, 2006 -- SuperSealWoman (a.k.a. Sky Valencia) is “flying high” at 367 Bay Street in North Beach, snatching a sealer’s club and saving a helpless harp seal pup. On December 20, 2006, at noon, SuperSealWoman will arrive in person to show ordinary San Franciscans how they can become superheroes to the seals.

“I can’t wait to fly up to San Francisco to show everyone that they don’t need X-ray vision or super strength to save the harp seals of Canada. All they need is a caring heart and the simple commitment to choose alternatives to seafood from Canada,” said SuperSealWoman Sky Valencia.

Harpseals.org is bringing this message to San Francisco to inspire seafood consumers in the Bay Area to help save the harp seal pups in Canada by joining the growing Canadian seafood boycott. Just a few blocks from the seafood restaurants of Fisherman’s Wharf, Harpseals.org’s giant SuperSealWoman display is encouraging San Franciscans to do their part to help these defenseless seals this holiday season.

On December 20, 2006, SuperSealWoman will arrive at noon with fellow seal heroes to distribute seal-inspired gifts and information to San Franciscans. Join us! The group will stroll along Bay Street, between Powell and Taylor, from noon to 2 pm. They will ask San Franciscans to take this message of compassion to Safeway, Trader Joe’s, hotel dining rooms, and all the restaurants of San Francisco that have not yet joined the Canadian seafood boycott. To date, over 30 San Francisco restaurants have joined the boycott. With the encouragement of San Francisco’s new seal superheroes, Harpseals.org expects dozens of additional seafood vendors to join in.

The annual seal “hunt” is the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world and takes the lives of over 300,000 baby harp seals each year. Seals just a few weeks to a few months old are bludgeoned or shot to death, hooked and dragged while alive and conscious, and even skinned alive.

These baby seals are killed primarily for their skin, which is made into fur coats, gloves, purses, and boots by such fashion corporations as Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, and Versace, also targets of a boycott. Harpseals.org is promoting a boycott of the Canadian seafood industry for three primary reasons:
1. Almost all sealers are fishermen. Sealing is an off-season activity that provides very little of their income.
2. The fishing industry of Canada, as a whole, lobbies for the continuation of the seal slaughter and for ever-increasing kill quotas. The Canadian government has said that the slaughter will not end until the Canadian fishing industry wants it to end.
3. Americans buy about 70% of Canada’s seafood exports. By taking our dollars away from the Canadian seafood industry, Americans can be superheroes to the seals and bring about a permanent end to the seal “hunt.”

Harpseals.org is an all-volunteer organization based in southern California and is the only organization dedicated exclusively to ending the annual massacre of baby harp seals in Canada. Along with In Defense of Animals, based in San Rafael, HSUS, Animal Alliance Canada, and several other organizations, Harpseals.org is educating consumers about the plight of the harp seals in Canada and how Americans can help.