March 11, 2005: Headlines: COS - Swaziland: NGO's: Animal Rights: US Newswire: Fred O'Regan writes Op-Ed on the Canada seal hunt
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March 8, 2005: Headlines: COS - Swaziland: NGO's: Animal Rights: US Newswire: "The harp seal migration is one of the earth's last great wildlife spectacles," IFAW President Fred O'Regan said. "The herd should be respected as a global treasure, not slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands out for the sake of obtaining a luxury item." :
March 11, 2005: Headlines: COS - Swaziland: NGO's: Animal Rights: US Newswire: Fred O'Regan writes Op-Ed on the Canada seal hunt
Fred O'Regan writes Op-Ed on the Canada seal hunt
Fred O'Regan writes Op-Ed on the Canada seal hunt
Canada Seal Hunt
By Fred O'Regan, IFAW president
Each year across Canada's glistening and desolate ice floes, herds of female harp seals give birth to beautiful pups in what has been described as one of the world's greatest natural wildlife wonders.
Only weeks later, this spectacular scene is replaced by one that many Americans, and even many Canadians, think ended in the 1980s –- one of savage brutality.
For each year, baby harp seals -– some as young as 12 days old, are slaughtered in Canada in the world's largest commercial marine mammal hunt. Over the last three years, nearly one million seals have been killed by the Canadian government's own count. Look back a decade and that figure reaches well over a staggering two million.
And killed for what? Their fur is sold to European buyers for cheap embellishments on clothing, while males' penises are removed and sold to countries where they are considered aphrodisiacs.
Has Canada not advanced enough to see the absurdity of this? Have we not?
In today's world where we pride ourselves on being global citizens, promoters of democracy and freedom, and guardians of the earth -– we allow the brutal killing of wild seals by men wielding clubs with metal hooks, hakapiks.
Let us move forward. Let us end this cruel hunt once and forever.
Fred O'Regan
IFAW president -- http://www.ifaw.org
When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state. |
| RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter. |
| March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went. |
| Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory. |
| Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week. |
| Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments. |
| WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service. |
| Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress. |
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Story Source: US Newswire
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Swaziland; NGO's; Animal Rights
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By simply misinformed (hlfxns0145w-142167151130.ns.aliant.net - 142.167.151.130) on Sunday, October 30, 2005 - 11:34 am: Edit Post |
Please educate yourself about the seal hunt. I am from newfoundland where the seal hunt continues. I notice you never complain about the moose hunt. I guess the cause is only noble if it can draw media attention, and we all know how cute those little seals are. Those who educate ourselves also know how seals destroy fisheries and are a valuable source of food for many families. I also noticed that was not mentioned in your letter, focus on the 'bad' I guess and ignore the truth.....you almost sound like the US gov..
Seals are an important source of food, and I have never seen a piece of clothing made from seal skin in my life, and I am from the land of the hunt.
Maybe you should protest the salmon hunt, or maybe the moose hunt, or even the trout slaughter...... cant see that happening though, they dont have those pretty little eyes.
I am 43 yrs single in India,having a small business work,I am willing to work with some
organisation working for animals on sparetime
kindly suggest.
Bibek Roy
Kolkata India