Attention, All Fur-Wearers: Help Stop the Cruel Seal Hunt

The Canadian government has given the go ahead to hunters to bludgeon to death 275,000 baby harp seals this year. The annual Canadian seal hunt is the world's largest slaughter of marine mammals.

Anna Nicole Smith, who was a PETA supporter, said, “The sealing industry says that it is killing more seals because of an increase in demand for fur—all fur. Anyone who buys a mink or fox fur coat or a jacket trimmed in fur bears responsibility for creating an environment of demand for the furs of these baby seals—who are often skinned while they are still conscious.”

The whole world reacts with horror to the image of ice floes bloodied with the carcasses of baby seals whose skins have been ripped from their backs. Seals, foxes, raccoons, wolves, and minks are all wonderful animals whose lives come to a cruel and violent end in a pool of blood, thanks to the industry that thrives on the sale of their skins.

If you witnessed the hunt firsthand, you would see hundreds of thousands of baby seals—too young even to know how to swim away—having their heads bashed in or being shot point blank. You would see a scene much like the one recently reported in The Washington Post: “[A] seal appearing to gasp for air, blood running from its nose as it lies on an ice floe. Not far away, a sealer sharpens his knife blade. The seal seems to be thrashing as its fur is sliced from its torso.” Or like this one reported in the Christian Science Monitor: “The few terrified survivors, left to crawl through the carnage. The shouted obscenities and threats from the sealers, gunfire cracking ominously in the distance. The pitiful cries of the pups; the repellent thuds of clubs raining down on soft skulls. Sealers' laughter echoing across the ice floes.” You might even hear the seal killers “utter a sarcastic ‘welcome aboard’ as they throw the skins on their 65-foot boat,” as The New York Times reported. Maybe this year, the images of the ice floes bloodied with carcasses will do the trick to persuade consumers to give up fur forever.

You can't take back the suffering that went into a fur coat, the lining of gloves, or a jacket collar. But if the images of mother seals watching their babies being killed just a few feet away from them move you to reject the violence—and shame—of fur, you can donate fur and fur-trimmed coats to PETA for use in our educational campaigns and demonstrations against the bloody fur trade. Remember that if you are wearing any fur, even if it's just “a bit of trim,” you are contributing to the overall demand for fur and are directly responsible for atrocities such as Canada's seal hunt.

Get Active to Stop the Bloody Seal Hunt

• Don't buy or wear ANY fur.
• Contact Canada's prime minister:

  His Excellency Stephen Harper
  Prime Minister of Canada
  Office of the Prime Minister
  80 Wellington St.
  Ottawa K1A 0A2
  Canada
  613-941-6900 (fax)
  pm@pm.gc.ca

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