The following is an excerpt from Peter Hammarstedt's essay "Defending Whales and Seals". This essay (among many other essays from extraordinary people) can be found in Ingrid E. Newkirk's book "One Can Make a Difference":
The Canadian seal slaughter that I witnessed still gives me nightmares. People call it a 'hunt' but I have yet to meet a single hunter who would call bashing baby seals over the head with clubs, 'hunting'. I was there in 2005. The ice was absolutely surreal, heavenly, like a world made of broken fragments of mirrors that sparkle in the light, that reflect the colors of the rising and setting sun. It is a wonderland where mother seals come to have their babies, to leave them to bask in the sun, feeling that they are totally safe, being miles and miles away from man. Not realizing that the boats will come, that human greed will catch up with them and reduce them to a bloody pulp.
Humans don't belong there at all. We must go there to confront the seal killers, to film what they do, to report their indefensible acts of unspeakable cruelty to the world, to witness their despicable acts that violate the International Seal Protection Act. We see an entire world of white turn to red as the seals' blood runs across the ice. There are suddenly carcasses everywhere as babies are killed with the blunt or sharp ends of the Hak-a-piks, and stomped, kicked more than once, sometimes six times or so with the sealers' cleated boots.
During the Hunt, I found myself running from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They're there on the ice to protect seal killers, not seals. I had video evidence and I didn't want them to seize it. But they tackled me and knocked me to my stomach. I lay there, practicing passive resistance, my arms held behind my back. As I turned my head, there, just two or three meters away, was a pup. I was so close to her, and her eyes and my eyes were linked. I do believe she knew the difference, she knew I was not a sealer. As long as I lay there, she was safe.
More information about the Canadian Seal Hunts:
"Since 2003 over 1.7 million seals have been butchered. Seals are normally clubbed to death. If still alive, once a seal is clubbed it is skinned alive. Organizations that photograph, or film the hunt without government permission risk imprisonment in what is a huge propaganda and censorship campaign. In Canada the sealers are protected by the 'Seal Protection Regulations' if you see a sealer club a seal pup and you don’t have a permit to witness the slaughter you can be arrested, jailed and fined up to $100,000 or sent to jail for a year."
'Please visit Canadian Seal Hunt (www.canadiansealhunt.com) to learn about how companies like Costco sell seal oil capsules. Also learn about these companies who manufacture products from dead baby seals: Prada, Pajar, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Birger Christensen, Versace, and Vogue Furriers. Also learn about why you should boycott these sea food restaurants Red Lobster, & Long John's Silvers.'
Although I do not always agree with Peta's methods, I do agree with their fundamental ideals with regards to the treatment of animals. Posted below is an online "flyer" from Peta urging public outcry against the seal hunt. I would urge each of you to do so as well. Contact public officials. Sign online petitions. Help to end the brutality.
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