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THE CANADIAN DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS POSES THIS INTRIGUING SCIENCE QUESTION:
ARE SEALS FISH? (Click here for the fascinating answer.)
HARPSEALS.ORG HELD A VIGIL AT THE CANADIAN CONSULATE IN MIAMI ON MARCH 30, 2006. At this vigil, actors performed a skit in which the roles were reversed: the costumed seal clubbed a woman to death. Passersby got a sense of how the Canadian harp seals feel...Channel 10 showed the action.
WFOR Ch. 4 Anchor Jennifer Santiago Reports on the seal slaughter and the Vigil at the Canadian Consulate in Miami
March 30, 2006 (CBS4 News) Jennifer Santiago reporting
DOWNTOWN MIAMI This year's controversial seal hunt in Canada has been underway since Saturday, with the US Humane Society estimating 14,000 harp seals killed so far, cause for a group of activists in South Florida to call for a boycott in front of the Canadian consulate.
Thursday, a group of South Floridians who are part of the activist group harpseals.org gathered in Downtown Miami to hand out leaflets and show signs in support of stopping the seal hunt. They are joining celebrity activists such as Sir Paul McCartney, who believe the method of killing the seals - usually clubbing them to death or even skinning them alive - is inhumane.
The boycott calls for a stop to the consumption of Canadian seafood.
More than 325,000 harp seal pups are expected to be killed this year alone by the Canadian government, which claims they need the seal hunt to keep their economy alive. Officials cite that the hunt is a necessary evil to help support low income workers.
“For a town like Newfoundland, the average family income is $33,000,” said Phil Jenkins with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “So you can imagine with an injection of about five to ten thousand dollars that these people get from the seal hunt, this is a significant addition to a household income."
The group demonstrating today is calling for everyone to join the boycott on Canadian seafood, a call that some South Florida businesses have already heeded.
(CBS4 News) Jennifer Santiago reporting
MAGDALENE ISLANDS, CANADA Even though harp seal products have been banned since 1972 in the United States, Canada still allows for their controversial hunting ever year.
CBS4's Jennifer Santiago took a trip up to the Magdalene Islands with Natural Habitat Adventures, which provides photographers and nature lovers the chance to see harp seals in their natural habitat, up-close, in this cold corner of the world.
During February and March, thousands of seals come together in the islands to give birth to their offspring. An estimated 1/3 of these pups though will be hunted, according to the International Fund For Animal Welfare (IFAW). What is more controversial than the numbers killed is the inhumane in which they are killed. They are clubbed to death.
Despite this, the Canadian government has set a quota of 325,000 seals to be hunted this year.
Paul McCartney is among the celebrities involved in putting an end to this practice and convince those that make a living out if it to turn to eco-tourism instead. He has called it stain on the character of the Canadian people.
Ward, who rather we use his first name only, was the Natural Habitat Adventures tour guide who accompanied CBS4's Jennifer Santiago through her tour of the island. Ward was a seal hunter himself before working for the tourism industry. He turned to being a tour guide by joining the company, which was started by IFAW to convince hunters to put down their clubs and make their living giving tours.
Even though he's now a lover of these animals, he too was a seal hunter at one point in his life. Despite having regrets he doesn't oppose the hunting of seals.
"Once you start working around this nature, it's like your own children," says Ward. "It's part of their income, it feeds their families."
What Ward does have a problem with what he says is the inhumane way in which the seals are hunted. There are no viable alternatives.
POSTED: 11:54 am EST March 30, 2006 MIAMI -- A group of South Floridians converged on the Canadian Consulate in Miami Thursday to protest the killing of baby harp seals. Residents held a silent vigil at the consulate hoping to put pressure on the Canadian government to end what they call the "industrial-scale massacre" of more than 335,000 seal pups. The protesters are asking supporters of their cause to boycott Canadian seafood. According to the protesters, many of the baby seals are skinned alive and their carcasses left on the ice. The activists say that the actual profit from the killing of young seals is minimal. For more information on the protest, click here . (NOTE: The images are graphic and disturbing.)
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A plea to end the killing...
Martin Sheen speaks out!
