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Ottawans protest 'cruel' seal hunt
TRACEY TONG, METRO OTTAWA
March 15, 2009 05:16

For many Ottawans, the protest against the Canadian seal hunt is about more than saving the lives of cute animals.

City resident Linda Steele remembers signing her first petition against the seal hunt as a young girl in grade school. She's been dedicated to the cause since.

"I don't want my tax dollars supporting the hunt," she said.

She said the hunt was an embarrassment to the country.

"It's a big black mark on Canada. This isn't a hunt. It's a slaughter."

Donna Glover has also been supporting the cause for more than 15 years. The Ottawa women were two of the more than 100 people who attended a rally in the ByWard Market on Sunday afternoon to protest the seal hunt.

The protest, which later moved down to Parliament Hill and to the embassy of the European Commission, is one of many events taking place worldwide for the International Day of Action against the Seal Hunt.

"We're here to raise awareness about the seal hunt and to let people know that their taxpayers dollars are paying for it," said International Fund for Animal Welfare senior researcher Sheryl Fink.

Fink, who has witnessed firsthand the "largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world," said the hunt kills animals solely for their fur.

"It targets seal cubs between three weeks and three months of age," said Fink, who called the hunt "cruel."

"They haven't learned to swim. They're crying out in pain and left on the ice to suffer."

Those attending the rally are in good company, said Senator Mac Harb, who introduced Bill S-229 to end commercial sealing in Canada while protecting Inuit and Aboriginal sealing.

"Sixty-five per cent of people don't support the seal hunt," said Harb, who has been working on the issue for 14 years and who vowed to keep working until the hunt was stopped.

"Seventy per cent of Americans don't support the hunt, and 75 per cent of Europeans don't support it. The majority of people do care," he said.

Commercial sealing, which saw the death of more than a million seals pups in the last four years, will likely take more than 250,000 lives this year.

Seal hunting is not an economically necessary industry, said Fink. "The markets are deteriorating."

http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/local/article/197037