Richard Dean Anderson is about to get cuddly – with a baby harp seal. Anderson is still recovering from a broken ankle, but nothing could stop him joining the fight against the annual slaughter of baby seals in Nova Scotia, Canada. He is one of the directors of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society which works to protect marine wildlife, and yesterday (6th March 2005) he flew to the ice floes off the Gulf of St Lawrence where he will join an international volunteer crew on board Sea Shepherd ship the Farley Mowat to oppose the seal hunt. While on the ice, Anderson is expected to pose with baby harp seals to publicise their plight. He will then conduct press interviews before flying to Charlottetown for a press conference.
The Canadian commercial seal hunt is the largest mass slaughter of marine mammals in the world; this year alone Canada expects to kill over 325,000 seals in March and April. The seals killed are, on average, only 12 days old and the sealers kill them with clubs and hooks. Last year a poll showed that 71% of Canadians support either banning the hunt or limiting it to seals over one year of age. (National Post editorial quoted here.)
Solutions hope to bring you more news about Richard Dean Anderson’s involvement in this campaign as it happens, so please keep checking for headlines!
Disclaimer: The author of this article is a member of Sea Shepherd. You can find alternative views on the seal hunt at CBC’s news archives.