Local group protests seal slaughtering in Canada

By Jimi Jo Story
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 4, 1996

More than 100 students signed a banner Friday on the UA Mall declaring, "Boycott Canada, Stop the Hunt," during a protest against the slaughter of harp seals there.

The calm protest, which took place between noon and 2 p.m., was attended by about 20 people at any one time and did not seem to bother the group of approximately 200 standing yards away listening to a preacher who was being filmed by two video camera operators.

Young male seals are killed in Canada, their penises dried and sold in China as aphrodisiacs for a market price of up to $200 each, according to information from the Arizona People for Animal Rights. The group, which organized the protest, was formed in Tucson in October but is active throughout the United States. The animal rights group is a private, nonprofit organization which is classified as a direct activist group.

The group asked people to sign the banner to show that they wanted a boycott of the Canadian product.

"I feel embarrassed for the human race," said Peggy Raisglid, a doctoral chemistry student and member of the group. "It's incredibly barbaric and appalling to me."

"We make no apologies for any way they can get people to pay attention," said member Catherine Rice.

Students had mixed views about the protest, during which organizers set up the eight-by-10-foot banner with a drawing of a wide-eyed seal, a table of information about the organization and a tent in which a television played a video describing the group's activities.

"It's a good idea, but I tend to wonder how many people sign out of political correctness or if they really care," said Jeremy Webb, an undeclared sophomore.

Shelly Snyder, a resident of Edmonton, Alberta, said, "This is a teeny, tiny issue and really retarded. There are much bigger issues, like world hunger. There's no way you can get the right idea of an issue in Canada in Arizona."

The protest was timed to coincide with the opening of seal-hunting season in Canada.

Animal rights activist groups protested the season across the United States, protest sources said.

"We go to college campuses because the consciousness here is much higher," said Roberta Wright, director of the animal rights group Supporting and Promoting Ethics for the Animal Kingdom.

"I'm tired of people not considering other species," said Catherine Rice. "Our planet is dying because of it."

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