Israel joins global seal-hunting protest
Demonstrations in more than 50 countries, including
Israel, to be held
in
front of Canadian embassies in protest of mass seal
slaughter
By Tal Eitan and Dan Bentsur
TEL AVIV - Israeli wildlife protection organizations
are scheduled to
participate in a worldwide protest against the
slaughter of Harp seals
in
Canada.
Israeli wildlife protection organizations are
scheduled to hold a
demonstration on Tuesday, March 15 at 3 P.M. (8 A.M.
EST) in front of
the
Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv, in protest of the
government authorized
commercial slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Harp
seals in north
Canada,
which is expected to reach its peak during the spring.
The demonstration is part of the International
Simultaneous rallies are expected to take place in
front of Canadian
embassies in over 50 countries, including the U.S,
Mexico, and several
European and South American countries.
According to Alona Haruvi of Israel4wildlife , which
is organizing the
rally
along with The Israeli Society for the Abolition of
Vivisection (ISAV)
, the
seal-hunting season peaks between March and May.
During this period female seals go onshore to whelp,
making it easier
to
hunt them in large numbers, she says.
3-year plan to kill a million seals
"Wildlife protection organizations worldwide are
holding simultaneous
protests to expose this slaughter to the media and the
public so as to
apply
pressure on the Canadian government to end the
slaughter for good," she
says. "The U.S. Senate and Congress are applying
pressure as well."
Wildlife protection organizations estimate that 96
percent of the seals
slaughtered are between 12 days and 12 weeks old, as
at this age they
are
still unable to swim and therefore are easier to hunt
down.
Haruvi says the protests are focusing on
Canada because that is where the most extensive
slaughter of seals in
the
last 50 years is taking place.
"In no other country is there authorization to hunt
seals in such
quantities," she says.
Haruvi says the harm done to the species is even
greater.
The seal pups left to die of hunger on the ice
following their mothers'
slaughter, and the seals that do manage to escape
after they are shot,
but
later die in the water are not included in the
statistics, she says.
"The 350,000 annual figure is merely an official
number; in reality,
tens of
thousands more seals are killed,� she says.
Killing seals to make aphrodisiacs
Canada is entering the second year of its new
three-year "management
plan"
for harp seals. The plan, devised by Canada's
Department of Fisheries
and
Ocean (DFO) , allows sealers to kill 975,000 harp
seals over three
years.
In two of those three years, sealers may kill as many
as 350,000 harp
seals.
The current quota marks a significant increase from
the annual
slaughter of
275,000 seals before the plan came into effect.
The seals are killed for their pelts, their penises
(which are used to
make
aphrodisiacs in Asian markets), oil (which Canada
promotes as a health
supplement), and meat.
According to the U.S. Humane Society , the Canadian
government and
fishing
industry claim that seals in the North Atlantic must
be culled because
they
eat too many Cod Fish.
However, two of the government's own scientists
reported that the true
cause
of the depletion of cod in the North Atlantic was
over-fishing.
(03.12.05, 17:47)
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