Media Advisory – Humane Society International on Location to Document 2012 Seal Hunt

Broadcast Quality B-Roll and Stills Available For Media Download.

MONTREAL, April 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – “Global markets for seal products have closed,” said Rebecca Aldworth, executive
director of Humane Society International/Canada. “The provincial
government is providing financing so companies can stockpile seal skins, with no indication markets will
ever emerge. The sealing industry has become a glorified welfare program.”

    WHAT:    TheHumane Society International Protect Seals team is on location to document Canada's 2012 commercial seal
             slaughter. The
             2012 quota,
             set by Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield, will allow for the slaughter of up to 400,000 harp seals.

    WHEN:    Canada's commercial seal slaughter opened off the coast of Newfoundland half an hour before sunrise on
             Tuesday, April 10.

    WHERE:   The northern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada.

    WHO:     Rebecca Aldworth, executive director of Humane Society International/Canada has witness the seal hunt for the
             past 14 years.

    HOW:     Email or call media contact below to receive broadcast quality b-roll and stills.

FACTS:

        --  Government landings reports confirm that more than
            98 percent of seals killed
            in Canada's annual slaughter are less than 3 months of age.

        --  Veterinary reports consistently reveal high levels of animal
            suffering in commercial sealing and leading veterinary experts
            have suggested in recent years that Canada's commercial
            slaughter is
            inherently inhumane.

        --  Sealers are commercial fishermen who, on average, earn less
            than 5 percent of their annual incomes from sealing killing
            seals - the remainder comes from seafood such as crab, shrimp
            and lobster.

        --  Nearly 6,000 establishments, and more than 750,000 people, have
            joined a global boycott of Canadian seafood products that will
            continue until the seal slaughter ends. The boycott has already
            cost the Canadian economy many times the value of the seal
            slaughter.

        --  National polling consistently shows the overwhelming majority
            of Canadians want the commercial seal slaughter to end, and
            oppose the Canadian government using tax dollars to promote the
            sealing industry.

        --  Polling shows half of Newfoundland sealers and the majority of
            Newfoundlanders, holding an opinion, support a federal sealing
            industry buyout

            (Ipsos Reid 2010).

Humane Society International/Canada is a leading force for animal
protection, representing tens of thousands of members and constituents
across the country. HSI/Canada has active programs in companion
animals, wildlife and habitat protection, marine mammal preservation
and farm animal welfare. HSI/Canada is proud to be a part of Humane
Society International-one of the largest animal protection
organizations in the world, with more than eleven million members and
constituents globally-on the Web at hsicanada.ca.

SOURCE Humane Society International/Canada