The Canadian government claims that the annual seal slaughter is "a humane, professionally run hunt." But our evidence shows that this simply isn't true! The latest report from the ice proved it with this chilling story: "We also saw seal pups which had been killed and then left frozen on the ice - without their skins removed. Thousands more had been skinned, but their carcasses were just left there - abandoned on the ice amid pools of blood." Can you imagine going for a walk in the woods and finding dead animal carcasses rotting on the forest floor all around you? The government would never allow such horrific and wasteful killing - the police would be called in, and arrests would be made. But for the seal hunt - they not only allow it, they subsidize it! Of course, the ice eventually melts or floats off to sea, and the evidence of this dreadful cruelty is gone forever. And that's why it's vital that that our seal hunt observers remain on the ice gathering video footage and evidence. We use this proof to tell the REAL story. But we need your help to keep our team out there and to alert the world to this tragedy. Fred O'Regan, President of the International Fund for Animal Welfare served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland.
Fred O'Regan writes: Genocide on The High Seas
Forgotten Victims Shocking Story: Genocide on The High Seas
By Fred O'Regan, IFAW President
I have a shocking story to tell you.
Just last week, our hunt observers personally witnessed an injured, bleeding seal escape into the water before a sealer could finish killing it. The sealer tried to pull the seal out by the hind flippers but it slipped out of his grip and into the icy water. This wounded seal most likely suffocated or bled to death under the ice - and yet this needless loss of life won't even be counted in the official number of seals killed.
And that's not even the shocking part.
What's shocking is that this is expected to happen 15,000 more times during this year's Canadian seal hunt! In recent years, as many as 26,000 seal pups - many not yet old enough to know how to swim - have been mortally injured, and then lost or left behind.
They call the seals who die these unnecessary deaths, the "struck and lost." It's heartbreaking enough that a seal dies to make a fur hat or gloves - but to die for no reason at all? It shows how inhumane this hunt truly is...and it leaves me profoundly saddened and speechless.
seals
So I'm reaching out to you again to please help us put an end to this brutal and wasteful slaughter. You can make their deaths mean something.
Please make a donation now for the forgotten victims of the seal hunt.
The Canadian government claims that the annual seal slaughter is "a humane, professionally run hunt." But our evidence shows that this simply isn't true!
The latest report from the ice proved it with this chilling story:
"We also saw seal pups which had been killed and then left frozen on the ice - without their skins removed. Thousands more had been skinned, but their carcasses were just left there - abandoned on the ice amid pools of blood."
Can you imagine going for a walk in the woods and finding dead animal carcasses rotting on the forest floor all around you? The government would never allow such horrific and wasteful killing - the police would be called in, and arrests would be made. But for the seal hunt - they not only allow it, they subsidize it!
Of course, the ice eventually melts or floats off to sea, and the evidence of this dreadful cruelty is gone forever. And that's why it's vital that that our seal hunt observers remain on the ice gathering video footage and evidence. We use this proof to tell the REAL story. But we need your help to keep our team out there and to alert the world to this tragedy.
Please send an emergency donation now to help us keep our hunt observers at the scene of the slaughter.
The world is intensely watching this year's hunt, and I'm certain that the evidence we are gathering will speak for itself:
It will help convince the European Parliament to pass an EU-wide ban on the trade in seal parts.
It will help gather support for Canadian Senator Harb's historic Bill to end the commercial seal hunt forever. Thanks to IFAW's efforts, Russia recently banned the killing of seals less than one year old - a great step forward for seals - and now it's time for Canada to enact their own seal hunt ban.
And it will help convince other countries to follow the lead of the US, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and many other nations who have already banned seal products or announced their intention to do so.
Please help us honor the forgotten victims of this brutal and senseless hunt by making a donation today. Any amount you can spare will help.
...For the "struck and lost," and the hundreds of thousands of other seals that will be killed this year,
Copyright © 2009, NewsBlaze, Daily News
