Paul Watson: McCartney to witness Canadian seal slaughter

Paul Watson

Sir Paul McCartney and his wife Heather have arrived in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island to make their opposition to the Canadian seal slaughter known to the world.

And the world is paying attention.

The McCartneys are being guided to the seal nursery by Rebecca Aldworth, one of the world's foremost experts on the harp seals and the campaign to oppose sealing.

Predictably, politicians in Ottawa and in Newfoundland are outraged.

Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn regurgitated the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) propaganda about the seal hunt being "the most humane hunt in the world". It is not.

The government also attempted to link the hunt with the rights of Inuit people although no Inuit or other aboriginal people participate in the killing of seals in eastern Canada.

The government arguments are thinner than the ice this year. I am happy to see the McCartneys being escorted to the ice by Rebecca Aldworth. She is a Newfoundlander, one of the most passionate defenders of the seals in the world, and she knows her sealing facts inside and out.

Ms Aldworth is representing the Humane Society of the United States. She is the former representative of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has had the pleasure of working in co-operation with her for nearly a decade.

In a media culture, celebrities carry weight and more importantly people pay attention to what they have to say.

In the past Captain Paul Watson I have escorted Brigitte Bardot (1977), Martin Sheen (1995) and Richard Dean Anderson (2005) to the ice floes to bring attention to the slaughter of seals.

When Paul and Heather McCartney have their pictures taken with one of these newborn pups, that picture will circle the globe and will appear in millions of magazines and newspapers in hundreds of countries. The government of Canada has lost this year's battle for the hearts and minds of humanity and their feeble attempts to defend the indefensible will be perceived as arrogantly insensitive.

The legendary musician faces the problem of limited and thin ice conditions in the Gulf. Global warming is threatening the seals as the ice floes are becoming more diminished each year. This year is the worst year on record for ice conditions. This may prevent the group escorting the McCartneys from landing safely on the ice floes.

The ice conditions are so bad that the government has not yet set a quota for the Gulf and they have not set an opening day for the slaughter.

It is of course highly irresponsible for DFO to open a hunt without taking into account the potential negative impact of the diminished ice conditions. How can they set a quota on a population that will be savagely impacted by the lack of ice where newborn mortality will be abnormally high? This department has demonstrated that they are the most incompetent, politically biased and mismanaged bureaucracy in the Canadian government.

Everyone now knows Canada's bloody little secret that the savage slaughter of the seal pups continues.

Now we must focus our attention on building the political, media and economic pressure to stop the killing.

* Paul Watson is founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.


Readers' Views

Mar 8, 2006: Canada can do without the likes of "SIR Paul and his "lady ". She acted anything but a lady on the Larry King show and was rude and obnoxious to the Premier of Newfoundland. Go spread your Propaganda somewhere else.
- Hope Wegner, Canada

Mar 6, 2006: Paul Watson, the Mr Sleaze of the save the anything that is cute movement, is at it again! The Herald quotes him as saying that "Paul McCartney will see the slaughter". Folks, the cull does not even start for another 2 weeks and Paul and the missus will be back and happy in London by then. Paul Watson has gotten rich with his worldwide falsehoods on a whole range of issues for 20 years. It is unfortunate that the media do not focus on his financial success rather than swallow his stories without the facts. Check reality folks! It is really amazing that despite this annual "slaughter" the seal population off the east coast of Canada has grown by about 500% over the last 20 years. Guess we are not killing enough of them.
- John Doucette