CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, March 30—Today is one of those frustrating days I have come to know so well over the years here at the commercial seal hunt.
We wake at dawn and begin to prepare for our trip to the ice. But then our pilots call: Gale force winds and freezing rain are forcing a delay until 8 a.m. Everyone waits impatiently for two hours, until we receive another call: The news is not good. The freezing rain continues, and we will have to wait for another update at 10 a.m. And so it goes, with delay after delay, until our pilots finally break it to us: We will not be able to fly for the rest of the day.
The HSUS Seal Watch team members are upset—we know these weather conditions will not stop the sealers from killing seals, just our ability to witness it. The clubs will continue to rain down on fragile baby seals, and we are unable to do anything to stop it.
Understandably, our guests are also anxious. These journalists and parliamentarians have come from around the world to witness the seal hunt for themselves. And many have publications waiting for their stories and photographs. It is tense as everyone tries to rework their deadlines.
But suddenly, we find we are being swept up in a different activity. Our office phones begin to ring without pause. Media outlets from all over the world are seeing our photos and footage from the seal hunt, and they are starting to cover the tragedy unfolding in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
My spirits lift as I see our messages being delivered to audiences far and wide. In one interview after another, I speak with television and radio stations and newspapers as far away as Australia. Outraged people call into radio shows I speak on, asking how they can help us stop this atrocity.
It is difficult to find ways to describe what we have seen this year on the ice. In interview after interview, I try my best to make the world comprehend the suffering that occurs during this slaughter. Understandably, most people I speak with cannot believe that this is happening in Canada.
The office is a flurry of activity as our video team works to review and edit footage and our PR staff offers it to the media. And while I speak to reporters, I can see the images of our trip to the ice floes yesterday. One monitor shows the face of the seal pup we watched die in agony; another shows sealers running across the ice clubbing pups.
I find it hard not to cry as I watch these baby seals in such obvious pain, but it is fitting to see these images as I speak to journalists. Our role here is to speak on behalf of those who cannot. And these seal pups are in desperate need of our voices.
It is hard to reconcile this renewed global interest in saving the seals with the hundreds of thousands of pups who will be slaughtered over the next few weeks. The world is paying attention, but it is just too late to save these seals. I vow to myself that we will fight throughout the year for the seals and ensure we never have to witness this kind of slaughter again.
At the end of the day, we receive some good news. Our pilots call: The weather forecast for tomorrow looks promising. We will plan to fly at daybreak and once again stand with the seals to bear witness to Canada's cruel commercial seal hunt.
