Please take the time....

An issue of great importance to me is beginning to make its way to the forefront again, and that is the needless slaughter of baby harp seals in the Eastern Canadian provinces.

When I was in the 10th grade in 1980, my very first civic action was to collect signatures on a petition to stop the seal hunt. I thought that the drive was successful because I never really heard about the hunt after that, although I knew that Newfoundlandians were pretty incensed at the world's butting in on their so-called "cultural tradition."

The seal hunt is unspeakably cruel and heartbreaking, and as an animal lover, I cannot sit by while the 2007 hunt begins TODAY.

Please take the time to visit www.ifaw.org. You can click on your country's flag at the top to access the information, and scroll down to "act now to stop the seal hunt". You do not need to make a donation, although funds are desperately needed. There are online petitions that you can sign. I was very proud to find out that the USA's office of IFAW is located on Cape Cod.

Hunters shoot them. They take ice picks to their heads. They bludgeon them. Seals as young as 2 weeks old. And the Canadian government subsidizes these horridly cruel hunts.

This is IFAW's mission statement:

"From the outset, the founders of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, or IFAW, rejected the notion that the interests of humans and animals were separate. Instead they embraced the understanding that the fate and future of harp seals-and all other animals on Earth-are inextricably linked to our own.

IFAW's courageous actions drew international attention to the plight of the seal pups and successfully rallied worldwide condemnation of the hunt. Thanks to IFAW's continued vigilance, it is now illegal to hunt whitecoat seal pups for commercial purposes on the ice floes off Canada's east coast. This is a fragile victory, however, for Canada's commercial seal hunt persists. IFAW continues to document and expose abuses of the commercial hunt and press for an end to this cruel, unsustainable slaughter. Over the years, the small team of committed campaigners reaching out to help seals has grown to become the world's leading international animal welfare organization. IFAW begins its fourth decade of operation with more than 200 experienced campaigners, legal and political experts, and internationally acclaimed scientists working from offices in 15 countries around the world.

We are now joined in this important work by some two million contributors worldwide. This broad base of support makes it possible for IFAW to engage communities, government leaders, and like-minded organizations around the world and achieve lasting solutions to pressing animal welfare and conservation challenges-solutions that benefit both animals and people. Over the years, our approach has been as varied as the species we protect."