Dear Prime Minister Martin,
I am writing to express my outrage at the Canadian government's promotion of the inhumane and unsustainable hunt of harp seals. I am horrified that the Canadian government has chosen to reward seal hunters who exceeded the 2002 quota by increasing the quota to allow seal hunters to kill 975,000 harp seals over the next three years.
The vast majority of seals killed in the 2002–2003 hunt were between 12 days and 12 weeks old. It is one of the few hunts to target such young animals. Furthermore, despite claims by the Canadian government that the seal hunt is humane and well regulated, independent veterinarians who observed the hunt estimated that up to 40% of the seals may have been skinned while still conscious. Additional abuses observed included bleeding live seals, stockpiling dead and dying animals, dragging live seals across the ice with sharpened steel hooks, and shooting seals and leaving them to suffer.
In addition to being inhumane, the current seal hunt is unsustainable. The hunt is specifically designed to decrease the size of the seal population, despite the fact that there is no scientific basis for such a cull. Canadian Fisheries officials are scapegoating the seals for the catastrophic decline of the cod stocks, when the hard truth is that the collapse is the result of the government's mismanagement of the fisheries for decades.
Canada's international reputation will be irreparably harmed by this archaic hunt if you do not intervene in this matter. The majority of U.S. residents, according to a recent survey by the Humane Society of the United States, oppose the seal hunt. Your government's financial support, including $20 million in previous subsidies, will lead me, along with many other Americans, to think twice before vacationing in Canada and purchasing Canadian products.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]