(Note: also posted on the main Friends of Animals blog.)
Once again, the
seal slaughter has begun on the East Coast of Canada, this year further
spurred with a $3.6
million dollar investment from the Newfoundland government, promising more
money to those who opt to risk their lives on the diminishing ice floes. This
year, seal skins are estimated to be valued around $27, from an all-time low of
$15 from 2010. Some in NL are leery, and even they’re admitting the numbers
don’t add up and that this is just a
boondoggle.
Thanks to this cash infusion,
there’s a very good chance we’ll see more seals killed than in the last couple
years, so we cannot just sit back and hope this thing fades into oblivion – we
can expect tens of thousands of baby seals (they’re killed at about 3 weeks of
age) to be killed this year.
What can we do in Victoria? Letters, of
course, can be sent to the Prime Minister, the Minster of the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans, and of course Newfoundland officials, but in our own city we
can make a little difference: boycott Seed of
Life, the downtown health food store, and tell them
why.
This is our third year of
encouraging cities in Canada to take responsibility for
themselves – we cannot rely entirely on the rest of the world boycotting seal
products, we must show dissent from within as well! By ensuring your city is ‘Seal
Friendly’, and eliminating seal products (primarily fur products and seal
oil capsules), the rest of Canada can also show Newfoundland that even at home,
we’re not putting up with this.
If you’re an activist in another
city, all you have to do is find out where seal products are sold, and then
start a boycott – spread the word to your friends and families and co-workers,
and get them to join in and tell others. If we make this an issue, then shops
will have no choice but to stop selling seal products. Can we make areas of a
province, or even entire provinces Seal Friendly? Let’s find
out!
In Victoria, the only shop we’ve found to be
selling seal products is Seed of Life – we’re maintaining our boycott of them
(and if you’re shopping downtown, Ingredients would be a more
appropriate health food store destination.) Please take some time to write a
letter asking Seed of Life to cease their sale of seal products, and mail it, or
drop it off in person for more of an impact:
Seed of Life Natural
Foods
1316 Government
St
Victoria, BC V8W
1Y8
Thank you for speaking up for seals,
and helping to bring this bloody slaughter to an
end.
Dave Shishkoff
Canadian Correspondent
Friends of Animals
Web Site: http://FriendsofAnimals.org
Victoria: http://TheVictoriaVegan.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2496490922
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/FoA_Victoria
FoA Vegan Starter Guide PDF: http://bit.ly/foa-vsg
