The dichotomy was not lost on the protestors who showed up in front of the Canadian Embassy on March 4 for the second HSUS-sponsored Protect Seals rally in the past five months.

The unseasonably warm day in Washington, D.C., where visitors and residents alike were taking advantage of the spring-like weather, contrasted sharply with the rally's focal point: the coastal areas of Newfoundland and Labrador, where the ice is thick and solid, just right for the brutality to come. The majority of the clubbing and shooting of harp seals will take place between late March and May of this year. Many of the 75 protestors arrived at the embassy with that knowledge hanging heavy in their hearts and minds.

Most were activists who answered the call from The Humane Society of the United States, The Fund for Animals, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), and other groups. There were also students from the Washington, D.C., School without Walls brought by peace activist, columnist, and law school professor Coleman McCarthy.

Some spectators had been just walking down the street during their lunch hour and had stopped to find out what the chanting ("Shame on Canada," "Stop the Seal Kill," "Canada's Seal Kill—Canada's Shame") and signs were about. Many were shocked.

Amy Rogers Nazarov, a consultant with the Smithsonian Institution, said, "I think of Canada as such a progressive country. I'm really appalled to know that this is still an issue in the 21st century." She glanced at the protestors lining Pennsylvania Avenue with their signs. "I just stopped by on my way back from work, and I just had to give my time and yell a little."

The hunt, which will claim nearly 1 million harp seals in the three hunting seasons between 2002 and 2006, is old news to Justice Department economist Ann R. Plamondon. She has come to the rally armed with a photo of herself and a harp seal pup taken 12 years ago on a trip to the seal hunting region. "We were going to see Anne of Green Gables country, and we stopped to see the seals on the way."

Plamondon took a moment to discuss with Rebecca Aldworth, the IFAW seal campaigner who has long fought against the Canadian hunt, the wealth of ecotourism opportunities in the area. Aldworth remarked that whale watching "is worth more in Newfoundland, where the bulk of the hunt goes on, than the sealing industry ever was. And tourism is worth more than the entire fishing industry."

Plamondon thought that economics ought to be used as a lever in making the Canadian government drop the hunt. Canada, she said, "needs to embrace the fact that there is more money to be brought in by ecotourism than by the seal hunt."

The Official Remarks

Aldworth also had some prepared remarks for the gathered crowd. Wayne Pacelle, The HSUS's vice president for Communications and Government Affairs, was asked to introduced Aldworth, but before handing over the microphone, he offered a thought of his own:

"Americans have been polled on this," Pacelle said. "They don't support the seal kill. Canadians don't support the seal kill. The only way that this seal kill continues is that people are indifferent, that they don't do anything about it. But if we shine a spotlight on what Canada's doing, they—the Canadian government—can't stand the light. This is an embarrassment to Canada."

When it was her time to speak, Aldworth told the crowd that she is a native of Newfoundland, that she grew up with the hunt, and had seen it first-hand. Aldworth pointed out the irony of the Canadian government's promotion of the hunt:

"For a country that is marketing itself on our wilderness and our wild open spaces, it is a horrible shame that off of our east coast, away from the eyes of the public, we are supporting the largest and most brutal slaughter of marine mammals anywhere in the world."

She then shifted gears: "We have a lot of incredible activity happening in the United States, thanks to many of you people here. We have activity all over Europe. Groups are standing up. They are boycotting Canada. They are taking out ads against Canada. They are running cinema ads against Canada. And it is just getting bigger from here."

Dr. Naomi Rose, HSUS's marine mammal scientist, spoke next. "Once again, we are in front of the Canadian Embassy to tell the Canadian Ambassador that we are not going away. We were here to protest in November, because that's when the hunt season officially starts. We are here again in March, because this is when the ice truly runs red with blood—this is when the killing gets serious."

"We are here," Rose said, so that the Canadian Ambassador "can report to the new prime minister [Paul Martin] that this controversy is not fading away, as the government no doubt hoped. Our voices will continue to be raised in protest, and our campaign will continue its progress, as long as the hunt continues."

Dr. John Grandy, HSUS senior vice president for Wildlife Programs, Aldworth, and The HSUS's seal campaign manager, Pat Ragan, met that morning with Jasmine Panthaky, first secretary and deputy spokesperson for the embassy, to give the same message. Grandy reported that the meeting went well.

"We were able to impress upon the Canadians the seriousness of our commitment and to make clear that we aren't radicals here," he said. "We're people who want to save animals."

Martina Adkins and her son, Chad Jeffreys, aren't radicals either. They were in town from West Virginia because of her husband's convention, and they had been visiting museums on the National Mall when they saw the rally. Adkins had heard about the seal hunt "a long long time ago—in the late '70s, early '80s…But this is new to me. I had no idea they were still killing seals."

Chad had some advice for Canada: "It's actually not good to go out and kill seals—kill any animals—because the seals need to eat, too. People can't just go out and fish all they want."

Right on the spot, Adkins declared that this hunt will stop her from traveling to Canada as a tourist. "I'm serious. I would not go at all."

Coleman McCarthy was the last to speak at the rally. He told the crowd that this protest is part of a "larger mission" against violence. That sentiment jibed with what everyone here, speakers and audience alike, had been saying. Canada has a choice: It can continue to choose the age-old route of violence, trying to shore up the dying economies of Newfoundland and Labrador by slaughtering hundreds of thousands of seals each year, or it can enter the 21st century by choosing peace and turning to ecotourism.

The people at this rally made their position clear: They won't give up until Canada gives peace a chance.

Tanya Mulford is the web editor for The HSUS's Wildlife and Habitat Protection section.