There are few forms of animal cruelty that exceed the brutality of the annual Canadian seal hunt. We have all seen the horrific pictures of baby seals being clubbed to death and often skinned alive. Despite global opposition and years of protest more than 317,000 harp seals were killed for their fur in 2005, bringing the three year total to over a million seals. The Canadian government has used many lines of “reasoning” --- all unreasonable and flawed --- to attempt to justify the slaughter. A number of national animal protection organizations have joined together to push for a boycott of Canadian seafood.

Maine is the closest U.S. state to this killing, therefore MFOA feels we should be as active as we can by joining the boycott. We are going to contact Maine restaurants to encourage them to join this boycott. The list of targeted companies are available online at BoycottCanadianSeafood.net. This would politically also help Maine seafood sellers. Once we have collected as many restaurants as we can to join the boycott, MFOA will place ads in the six Maine daily newspapers listing the restaurants that have joined the boycott. MFOA will also use the ad to educate the Maine public of this terribly inhumane slaughter that Maine citizens should encourage the Canadian government to end.

How You Can Help

Please send us a list of restaurants in your community that serve seafood and their addresses. MFOA will send them a packet of information and a request to join the boycott. Even better if you would like to approach the restaurant owner yourself we will send the packets directly to you. In one of our newsletters we will publish a list of the boycotting restaurants, and the MFOA members who were responsible for bringing us restaurants that have joined the boycott. Please send us your list today. If you had plans to visit Canada this year for vacation, consider an alternative vacation destination and write the Canadian government of your decision. Once again targeting a financial loss by continuing this practice.

Please write:
The Hon. Geoff Regan, M.P.,
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
Parliament Hill: House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario KIA 0A6
Canada

In many ways, animals in the wild receive more legal protections than domesticated or captive animals. Unlike animals "owned" by a zoo, a research facility, or an individual, wild animals are classified as public property under the law. That status gives citizens, and therefore government, more of an enforceable interest in their well-being.

As with domestic animals, many lucrative industries depend on the killing and sale of wildlife. Most wildlife laws specifically regulate and/or attempt to suppress those enterprises. Since wild animals are classified as public property, one individual does not theoretically have a right to exclusive benefit of that animal. Instead, wildlife laws recognize the benefit to the public of diverse populations of animals, and the value of nature. Because this view of wild animals as a public resource focuses on species maintenance, it unfortunately confers little benefit on individual wild animals. As long as the survival of the species is guaranteed, wild animals can usually be "harvested" for profit or fun.