To the editor:

There is a slaughter of harp seals going on in Canada. The “hunt” will run through May with at least 300,000 animals being shot or clubbed. Counting the animals killed this year, a total of 975,000 will have been slaughtered since 2003.

The majority of the seals killed are between 2 and 12 weeks, unable to swim and completely helpless. They are skinned so their pelts can be used for coats and trinkets — but in previous years some 42 percent of them may have been skinned alive and conscious, according to research conducted by independent veterinarians. “Hunters” are supposed to make sure the seals are dead before they move on, but an observer from the Humane Society of the United States has stated that she has seen seals moving and crying left in piles to die, as well as live seals stomped, kicked and impaled.

The justification for this slaughter is that it is needed to allow fish stocks to replenish themselves. However, there is evidence that the problem is not the seals, but overfishing. The U.S. Senate passed Resolution 33 this year urging Canada to stop the “hunt” in part because of this evidence.

Many groups including the Humane Society of the United States are spearheading a boycott of Canadian seafood in an effort to end such hunts. I urge you to join this boycott. Please help end this.

Adonia David,

Lawrence