Canadian embassy picketed by seal cull protesters

Animal right activists today stepped up their campaign for a ban on seal hunting by taking their protest to the Canadian Embassy.

Picketing outside the St Stephen’s Green building, demonstrators urged consumers across Ireland to boycott all Canadian seafood until its annual cull is stopped.

Organiser, Limerick-based activist John Carmody of the Animal Rights Action Network (Aran), pleaded with residents to join their appeal.

“We are asking people in Ireland to contact the Canadian officials and voice their disgust in the violent barbaric slaughtering of seals and boycott Canadian seafood,” he said.

“These seals are hacked, picked to death or clubbed or shot and die very slowly. Some have even been skinned alive or choked on their own blood.

“This is the world’s largest slaughtering of any marine mammals, with thousands of seals already killed this year alone.”

Celebrities all over the world have joined the protest against the killing of 325,000 young seals by registered hunters who claim they decimate cod stocks.

John added: “This seal hunt takes place once the fishing season is over and the fur is sold, mainly in south east Asia.

“We hope this is the last year this takes place, but if the Canadian Government doesn’t stop it we know a worldwide boycott will work.

“We have identified that €126,000 worth of Canadian seafood is sold annually in Ireland.

“There has been a huge boycott in America and we now are stepping up our campaign in the UK and Ireland.”

The seal hunt will begin in the Gulf of St Lawrence this week.