The International Day of Protest Against Canada's Seal Slaughter Office of the Consulate General of Canada 15 March 2007, Noon to 2:00 pm.

Over the last three years, more than a million seals have been shot or bludgeoned to death off Newfoundland’s coast. Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans is expected to give the go-ahead to kill hundreds of thousands more seals this spring. Canada’s government supports the annual slaughter by establishing quotas for the kill and providing assistance on the ice.

Friends of Animals and our supporters will stand before the Canadian Consulate General’s Office to demand an end to the senseless carnage. Advocates across the world are holding vigils for the seals.

The fur trade represents the bulk of the financial incentive for seal processing. Seal pelt exports to Europe and Asia have risen along with Canada’s marketing efforts. Key markets include Russia, Norway, Denmark, Hong Kong, Greenland, France, Germany, Finland, Greece, and South Korea, Norway, Germany and Finland topped the list in 2006, with over 70,000 skins to Norway, 22,000 to Germany and 17,000 to Finland.

Seal fur is also sold in Canada, at around $70.00 per pelt.

Each pelt represents the irreplaceable life of a harp seal pup. Mother seals defending their pups may be killed along with the youngsters.

We come to the door of the Canadian Consulate in Manhattan, to alert New York residents that the world’s largest seal kill continues. We call on all people to join us: Urge Canadian Consulate General Daniel Sullivan and Prime Minister Stephen Harper to end the seal slaughter now!

Daniel Sullivan, Canadian Consulate General
1251 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY, United States 10020-1175
Telephone: 1.212.596.1628 Facsimile: 1.212.596.1790

The Right Honourable Stephen Joseph Harper Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0A2
Facsimile: 1.613.941.6900 Email Address: pm@pm.gc.ca

Ask these leaders to make Canada a beacon of a humane society. Canadian leaders should help Newfoundlanders, but supporting Newfoundlanders doesn’t have to mean supporting the seal market. Overall, the seal slaughter costs Canada more than it earns, through subsidies and Coast Guard ships and ice breakers – and loss of global good will.

Other, peaceful jobs need to be found to rectify this situation, as happened when the killing of whales ended.

Tell them these leaders we, along with people throughout the world, look forward to hearing that they will press for an immediate stop to the seal kill. Seal fur and all fur is a deprivation of other animals’ lives, not a wardrobe accessory.

Contact Friends of Animals in New York City:

Edita Birnkrant Tel: 212.247.8120 E-mail: <edita@friendsofanimals.org>.

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