Int'l Day of Action for Seals - March 15/07

Make It Personal!

Baby Seals are Counting on Us


>>>>> UPDATE FEBRUARY 25, 2007 <<<<<

A Comment brought forward:

"There is a new group in Atlantic Canada raising its voice in opposition to the Canadian commercial seal hunt. Please visit us at
http://www.antisealingcoalition.ca/

Membership is restricted to Atlantic Canadians, but people in other parts of Canada and across the world are encouraged to sign on as Supporters and leave their thoughts and words of support in the Comment section.

Thanks to everyone for fighting to end this annual atrocitiy!

Bridget W. Curran
Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition"

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The harp seal pups will be born in the next week or two in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. They will have no idea of the fate that awaits them. Please help us end this horrible slaughter. Please be a part of the International Day of Action, March 15th. Step up to the plate now and lead an event in your city! In Los Angeles and Miami, Harpseals.org will put on mock funerals. In Seattle, Sea Shepherd will organize another event for the seals. It's easy to organize an event in your town. We will help publicize it and help you get the materials you need. Please let harpseals.org know if you will be a leader for the seals.

Note: if you don't think you can get a good turnout on March 15th, you can organize an event on any day from the 10th to the 18th. Also, you can have your event at a Canadian consulate/embassy, a store or restaurant that sells Canadian seafood, or any other location where you can get a good turnout of activists and media.

Harpseals.org Projects:

• Outreach - They continue to do direct outreach at festivals around the country. Please join this effort! Look for festivals (including Earth Day, Seafood Festivals, and Pet Fairs) in your area. You can search the internet, scan the newspaper, or call the chamber of commerce. Let them know when you find appropriate venues, and they'll help you get your booth together.

• Teaching Kids - They also are speaking in classrooms, teaching kids about the plight of the seals and the actions they can take to stop the slaughter. If you can help by presenting their lessons in a school in your area, or providing their Lesson Kit to local teachers, please request a kit today! Note: these kits come with a CD and a DVD, so they will need a mailing address.

• More for the Kids - They are creating a colouring book on the plight of the seals to reach the really young kids. They already have a great illustrator, but they need a writer. If this is one of your skills, please let them know. By the way, have you seen their sister website for kids, yet: Kids 4 Seals?

• Seafood Boycott - Please help them recruit stores, distributors, and restaurants to the Canadian seafood boycott. This is the best way to put pressure on the industry behind the slaughter of the seals. They have new Action Cards that make it easy to encourage seafood vendors to ditch Canadian seafood. Order them today! Please check their website regularly. Soon they'll have more tools to recruit seafood vendors as well as new auto-emails to send to major vendors.

Global Warming & the Seals

Dr. David Lavigne of IFAW and his team have produced a new report on the effects of global warming on the seals. The DFO's own scientists have said that the high rate of slaughter of the seals in the past few years, combined with high mortality rates (due in large part to the effects of global warming on the sea ice), have taken a toll on the population. Read more here. The DFO political leader, Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn is not expected to take heed. Now is a good time to give him and his friends a piece of your mind.

If you live in Canada, find your MP here and make sure they also knows about your opposition to the seal slaughter. Help make this a campaign issue this year! Tell them there is no such thing as "humane" slaughter. You can help by canvassing your neighborhood and talking to your neighbors about the seal slaughter. Please reach out to people in your town who care about the effects of global warming on animal populations.

European Efforts to End the Slaughter:

The European Commission will not act now to ban all seal imports into Europe. Nevertheless, European activists can continue to make strides for the seals by pursuing a total ban on seal product imports into their own nations.

Several European countries have already either banned imports or placed a moratorium on imports. These include Belgium and Croatia. If you live in Europe, please write to your leaders and ask them to act now to effect a ban on ALL seal imports. (Don't forget forget about the tragic Cape Fur Seal massacres going on in Namibia, see my post at:

http://4thtime.blogspot.com/2006/08/seal-alert-in-namibia.html)