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JOINT RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO URGE THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA TO END ITS SANCTIONING OF THE ANNUAL SEAL PUP HUNT
WE, your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in the First Regular Session, most respectfully present and petition the United States Congress as follows:
WHEREAS, the State of Maine has strong and valuable ties to Canada, sharing a long, common border with the Provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, and Maine is the state closest to the Canadian Maritime Provinces; and
WHEREAS,  the Canadian commercial seal hunt is the largest annual mass slaughter of marine mammals in the world, and harp seals are the primary target of the hunt, with 98% of all harp seals killed in 2006 being pups under 3 months of age, and hooded seals are also killed; and
WHEREAS,  the annual shooting, clubbing and often live skinning of more than 300,000 seal pups in front of their mothers has outraged much of the international community, including the European Union, which has banned all trade in harp and hooded seal products, and has prompted the international effort to boycott Canadian seafood products; and
WHEREAS,  the slaughter is done mainly for the luxury fur market and therefore is unnecessary and is demonstrably cruel, as evidenced by wounded seals that are often left to suffer in agony and pups that are often initially only wounded, with an estimated 42% skinned alive while conscious; and
WHEREAS,  Maine citizens believe in the humane treatment of animals, and a report by an independent team of veterinarians who studied the commercial seal hunt concluded that government regulations regarding humane killings were being neither respected nor enforced; and
WHEREAS,  the Canadian government once banned this practice, but then removed the ban, which has resulted in the brutal deaths of over 1,000,000 seal pups in the last 3 years, and reports have shown that the slaughter of the pups failed to comply with Canada's basic animal welfare standards; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That We, your Memorialists, respectfully urge and request that the United States Congress call on Canada's government to end its sanctioning of the annual baby seal hunt without delay; and be it further
RESOLVED: That suitable copies of this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to the Canadian Ambassador to the United States and to each Member of the Maine Congressional Delegation.