Sunday, February 1, 2009

Hay Island Seal Hunt

As most of you probably do not know, the Hay Island Grey Seal slaughter begins tomorrow. The reason I say you probably don't know is that it's kept as much of a secret by the Canadian government as possible. This is why there is a lack of news or media on this issue. So, to all those who believe that this is wrong (either due to the lack of government information, the inhumanity involved, the fact that it's a tax payer's burden, etc.; there are many reasons to oppose the seal hunt), here is something you can do:

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Please take a moment to send an email to Nova Scotia's Environment Minister to let him know you oppose the slaughter of grey seals on Hay Island. Please send a copy to Premier Rodney MacDonald and Nova Scotia's Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ron Chisholm. A copy should also go Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada's Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea, various other government officials and leaders of the provincial and federal political parties. Everything you will need is on the webpage (see link below)- names, emails and suggested email text. Please feel free to use the text as is, adapt it to your liking, or draft your own. Please remember that personalized letters work best. Please remain polite in your email, as profanity or threatening language will cause your email to be deleted.

For Nova Scotians, please also send a cc to your local Member of Legislative Assembly (link to MLA list is on webpage). For Canadians, please also send a cc to your local Member of Parliament (links provided on webpage).
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SUGGESTED EMAIL:
Personalized letters always work best. Feel free to use the following text, but your message will carry more weight if you write your own customized message and subject line. Please remain polite - profanity will cause your email to be deleted without being read. For identity of recipients, please see the bottom of this page. All email addresses have been tested and are operational. However, from time to time emails may be bounced back to you from some recipients as "undeliverable". If this happens, please re-send the email individually to those recipients to ensure delivery.
TO: min_env@gov.ns.ca
CC: premier@gov.ns.ca, MIN_DFA@gov.ns.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca, min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca,
mlashelburne@eastlink.ca, theriahe@gov.ns.ca, stoffp@parl.gc.ca, Simms.S@parl.gc.ca, ryan@ryanwatson.ca, ddexter@ns.sympatico.ca, mcneilsr@gov.ns.ca, leader@greenparty.ca, laytoj@parl.gc.ca, Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca,
YOUR LOCAL MLA (if in NS), YOUR MP (if in Canada)
BCC: action@antisealingcoalitio
n.ca
SUBJECT: Hay Island seal pups need your protection

To Minister David Morse:

I am appalled by your decision to allow fishermen to once again violate Hay Island and kill defenceless grey seal pups in their nursery grounds this year.

Last year untrained fishermen descended on Hay Island armed with crude wooden bats and boxcutters where they slaughtered 1,261 seal pups in an extremely cruel manner using methods condemned by international experts.

Hay Island is a protected wilderness area and you have a duty to respect this land, which the government holds in trust for the people of Nova Scotia, and a duty to protect all life on the land.

There is no scientific evidence that seals are responsible for the collapse of fish stocks or their failure to rebound. Even DFO's own scientists say there is no direct evidence that seals negatively impact cod stocks, and they simply do not know if reducing seal populations will aid in cod recovery.

I urge you to reconsider your decision, examine your conscience and do the right thing - protect the grey seals of Hay Island.

[Your name]
[Town]
[Province/State/Region]
[Country]