International Day of Action Against Seal Hunting

Today is the International Day of Action Against the Seal Hunt.  "Events are being held throughout the entire month of March in opposition to the cruel and unnecessary commercial seal hunts taking place in Canada and Namibia.  Demonstrations are taking place all across Canada – and around the world – as animal advocates come together to say enough is enough, and to encourage an end to commercial sealing" (quoted from IFAW).

If you love animals you must take a few moments to sign the Harb Seal Bill (Click Right Here)...a petition against the Seal Hunt.  Also please please please take a few extra moments to write a letter to your government telling them that your opposed to the cruel and unnecessary slaughter of seals and that you don't want to support the hunt with your taxes.  Writing these letters are easy and templates can be found here (for the grey seals) and right here.  Make it loud and clear that their support to end the seal hunt will help in getting your votes. 

Please don't be afraid and join the fight for one of this earths most beautiful creatures.
They are innocent & voiceless & they need our help.
The seal hunt is a barbaric practice of the past and Gandhi said it best...

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”

 
We must scream it loud and clear that

we want the seal hunt to end.

The seal hunt is truly a source of great sadness & despair for me.  I think not a day goes by without at least some part of my heart acknowledging that it's happened and is soon to happen again. 

On top of the already horrific fact that 100's of thousands will be killed.  Seal pup births and survival rates are already at an alarming low rate because of extremely poor ice conditions off Canada's east coast.  And even though demand for seal products is much less than in years past, the Minister of Fisheries is expected to announce an increase in allowable catch...WTF!!!
This is honestly one of the things that makes me ashamed and sad to be a human.  

The illustration up above is an oldie, one I did way back in college but I thought it was an appropriate image for this post. 

For the seals...I plead and beg for a few minutes of your time & for you to extend extra kindness...sign the petitions, send the letters...send the right message to future generations.

Thanks So So Much.

Help END Canada's Seal Hunt

I was feeling so so hopeful last week when I learnt of Senator Mac Harb's Bill. This is the first time ever that a politician is actually taking the steps and trying to get a new law passed to end the barbaric seal hunt in Canada. If this bill passes, I will finally 100% be able to proudly call myself Canadian...because the greatness of a nation is indeed partly reflected in how they treat that lands animals.

This is the time of year when I walk around heartsick. Any little bit of goodness and happiness is admittedly tainted knowing that the seal hunt begins this week. Knowing that 280,000 harp seal babies will be brutally killed...clubbed to death, skinned alive, or shot and left to die a slow and painful death....the only 'rule' for the murderers is the babies fur has to have begun to 'molt' which is at about 2 weeks old...is truly enough to taint any good day.

Writing this post and about this topic is not easy for me, as I write I want to cry. I want to curl up and hide and shake my head because I simply can not understand a humans need or want to kill an animal. Expressing this ultra sensitive side to all of this is not easy for me. Admitting that during deer season I hole up at home and refuse to drive the roads where I might see deers piled up on some red-necks trucks, is not easy because I like to be or at let pretend that I am strong...but I will bare my soul and beg for your time and efforts, on behalf of the seals and all animals that I feel so connected with and so in love with (and yes more connected to than the mass of humans currently destroying our world).

As for the people who 'engage' in the seal hunt...let's just truly hope that Karma is indeed a bitch!

The only glimmer of light I see in all of this is that IFAW is there for us. They are there for us who care, for those who are too weak to do much and for those not able to bring about change all on our own. Through a joined front, with IFAW, we can hopefully finally make a change. To make a donation to IFAW and help in their continued action please do click here. Jonathan and I are both proud members and any little bit you can give helps out.

We both received our 'action postcards' and will immediately be sending those out, including emails and letters as well. I am writing to you today with hopes that you'll help me and IFAW and all the exquisite precise seals that don't deserve to die in these on-going horrific slaughters.

What can you do to help? which will cost you nothing but a few minutes of your time?

You can CLICK HERE to go straight to IFAW's page to enter your name, etc and send your electronic 'vote/voice'. Canadians...CLICK HERE to send a letter to your local MP. I just filled out both forms. The first will go to all Canadian MP's and the 2nd will go to your regional Canadian MP, for us here in North Bay, it's Anthony Rota.

Senator Harb is trying to fill his office with 200,000 plus action cards, emails and letters in the next few weeks. Each motion of support will represent 1 of the seals murdered in last years seal hunt. Never before has an end to the seal hunt felt so possible, please don't loose on this opportunity to help end it once and for all.

As well as filling out IFAW's forms, please also feel free to leave a 'comment' saying your against the seal hunt and in favour of the Harb Bill on this post, leave your name and location and if I can compile enough of a list, I will gladly forward it to IFAW on behalf of myself & this blog and all of you who care as well. If you do, I thank you so very much in advance.

I know you might be thinking 'what can a letter, or my signature do?' well, it can do alot in showing Parliament that we all care about ending the senseless and needless suffering of an exquisite and beautiful species that we should be inherently and proudly protecting. We can not undo the past, but we can move forward in a united front, we can voice our need for a more positive and kind future...we can strongly send the message that we are not proud to be Canadians until this slaughter ends once and for all.

...as IFAW so brilliantly says "Senator Harb has opened the door...the world is watching...Let's show them what we can do".

A Good Mail Day & An Old Illustration

Good Friday Everyone. I am busy working on some larger pieces, so I don't have any new imagery to show you, hopefully this coming week. Because I work on alot of different things, I am honestly questioning how feasible a 'daily' painting would actually be for me. I've tryed a few, but even still I think they are too complex to keep up on a daily basis...but I'll keep trying. I have a few product ideal on the go also and though it is nothing that I can share with you right now, I'll just say that I am super excited to have gotten a big slab of beautiful clay...now I just have to find someone with a kiln! and set up my sewing machine...no more hints, ha ha. Honestly at the moment, despite all the recent travelling and stress with Ella-Luna, I feel myself bubbling over with excitement over new ideas, not just for illustrations but for various hand-made products featuring my illustrations

In the meantime, let me show you an older image of mine, but one that I still really like. This one was done in 1997, while I was in college. It's done in pastel with coloured pencil and speaks of a something that is never far from my mind or heart...the seal hunt.

In 2007, over 215,000 harp seals were slaughtered for their fur. The Canadian government simply refuses to end this agonizing and sick practice, so it's up to us animal lovers to stand up again and again and keep fighting to protect those who can't protect themselves. We give money every year to the seal hunt protests and I strongly urge all animal lovers to follow suit. Those of us who aren't strong enough to stand on the front lines, can still help alot but donating, because the protests take alot of money. If the protesting stops, the light won't be shed on this matter...we must continually make the government and people aware that it's cruel and unnecessary and putting our beloved country in a very poor light. After all "The greatness of a country is reflected in how it treats it's animals". Visit http://www.hsicanada.ca/

I plan some new illustrations on this topic, which I am hoping to send to the seal hunt protest organizations to use for free.

On to something lighter...Today was a great mail day. I just love getting mail, buying stickers and paper and stationary etc really is one of my pleasures. With email however, my mailbox treats have dwindled. I am past complaining about it though, now I just really really enjoy it when I do get a treat by snail mail. Today I got a letter from my oldest friend Lisa...she sent me this cute 'yogi' card and her two sweet boys Noah and Ben made me some sun catchers...shaped like bunnies of course, ha ha. I just love them...thanks boys and thanks Lisa

Well, that's all for this week. Until Monday, be well...breath....and simply 'be'.