 Canada
to Unveil Massive Seal Cull Plan
International
Fund for Animal Welfare
More than one million
seals will be killed over the next three years under a new Canadian government
plan to devastate seal populations, the International Fund for Animal
Welfare (IFAW) has said.
IFAW and its more
than two million supporters worldwide were outraged when news was leaked
of the government's new seal kill policy. The policy includes a new seal
kill quota that would allow up to 350,000 baby seals to be clubbed or
shot to death each year for the next three years.
"The Canadian
government has just returned to the 1800s in terms of animal welfare and
conservation," said IFAW President Fred O'Regan. "Their
decision raises a host of questions: Where is the scientific justification
for killing so many seals? How will the government safeguard a much larger
hunt against cruelty? Where are the markets for the pelts?"
"The killing
of these seals is the government's attempts to hide its own mismanagement
of the cod
fishery by blaming seals for damage done by human overfishing,"
said IFAW campaign manager David
Loan.
Ten years ago, after
the discovery that the cod population was dwindling, the federal government
declared a moratorium on the fishery that has sustained thousands of people
for hundreds of years. The fish stocks have yet to recover, and some fishermen
have incorrectly blamed the seals.
IFAW, the world's
leading international animal welfare organization, has released a number
of reports demonstrating ongoing problems with the taxpayer-subsidized
seal hunt:
- Up to 42 per
cent of seals are skinned alive;
- Several polls
have consistently shown the Canadian public is fiercely opposed to the
seal hunt, and many Europeans and Americans will avoid buying Canadian
products because of the hunt;
- Ice in the Northwest
Atlantic has begun to disappear at an alarming rate - risking the very
survival of ice-breeding seal populations.
"Citizens
of Holland will be outraged," said IFAW Holland Director, Marcel
Bertsch. "Canada can expect a strong and immediate reaction. We
will not stand by and watch this abhorrent practice continue."
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