blessed wild apple girl

alzabel:

May 6, 2011

Dear Elisabeth,

They’re on the move.

Soon, the baby seals who survived this year’s slaughter on the ice floes around Newfoundland will be out of Canadian sealers’ reach. The ice pans that just weeks ago were soaked with blood have melted, and if it weren’t for the footage our team captured, no one would ever know the truth about the carnage we witnessed here.

Your actions made sure we were there to expose the shameful cruelty to the world — so the sealers couldn’t carry out their killing in secret. I can assure you the suffering of the baby seals immortalized on film will not have been in vain.

Learn how you made a difference for seals this year. The big news: despite the Canadian government’s highest seal skin quota in history — they sanctioned the killing of 468,000 seals in the name of fashion — demand is very low because of our past efforts to ban seal product trade in the United States, European Union and elsewhere. Now sealers have little economic incentive to go out on the ice.

As a result, we saw only a dozen sealing boats operating, and so far, about 33,000 seals have been reported killed — that’s less than one-tenth of the number of seals killed in recent years. Even Canadian media are questioning whether the centuries-long slaughter may be over for good.

As much as we take comfort in the knowledge that hundreds of thousands of baby seals were spared, we can’t let up. This year, we have a real opportunity to end this slaughter. And we’re in a race against time — months from now, mother seals will begin their long trip back to Canada to give birth to a new generation of pups. Canada’s fisherman will gear up for yet another slaughter, unless we stop them first.

With your support, here’s what we’re doing in the months ahead:

• Bringing footage of the cruelty to China and Russia, urging these nations to ban trade in seal products;
• Showing it to restaurants, grocery stores and chefs throughout the United States and Europe, and asking them to join in boycotting Canadian seafood until the slaughter is ended forever;
• Sending it to the newly elected Canadian parliamentarians to show them what a travesty previous policies have facilitated.

With you on our side, I know we can make sure the seals never fall victim to this slaughter again. Thank you for standing with us in our work to save the seals. Together, we are closer than ever to restoring peace to Canada’s ice floes.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Aldworth
Executive Director
Humane Society International/Canada

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Thank you for the good news, and we will never stop fighting!!!  :D