Ellen DeGeneres Fights for the Rights of Seals

There are so many important causes in the world—kids, the environment, animals… 

If you’re a girl with a conscience, it’s one thing to pick between the black and the red cocktail dress. But choosing between rainforest devastation and Tsunami survivors? Not really a choice you leave to a game of rock, paper, scissors.

With that in mind, you have to avoid freaking out about what you can’t do, and instead commit to do what you can—whether that is through your time, money or voice. 
And once again, Lil’ Miss Goody Two Shoes Ellen DeGeneres wins the prize for giving all three. 



Ellen’s latest call to action is to stop the Canadian Government’s support of seal slaughter.   Seems that the Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail Shea decided that the answer to the European Union’s ban on all seal products was to up the death quota and sell more seal meat and oils to China. In 2010, the allowable catch was 330,000 seals, and this year it’s been increased by 60,000. Ellen’s response is to encourage her global fans and Canadian friends to help end the slaughter.



"Seal hunting is one of the most atrocious and inhumane acts against animals allowed by any government.  Canada is allowing the slaughter of a record number of seals in their 2011 hunting season, which is going on right now. The seals are often younger than 3 months old."

For once, global warming is on the side of the seals. The lack of sea ice in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence has resulted in only 1 percent of the 105,000 seals who were supposed to be harvested, actually getting killed. PETA, The Humane Society and the International Fund for Animal Welfare are all pointing to Canada’s greedy economic policies overriding the responsible choice of protecting a seal population already struggling to survive the effects of climate change.   

What You Can Do

This is what you can do to help: 1) Sign the HSUS: Seriously, Canada?, Care2 or PETA petitions to stop the killing and 2) Boycott Canadian seafood. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society goes so far as to name Red Lobster as one of the largest purchasers of Canadian seafood.  So if any of our bitches do eat fish, you may want to skip this chain. 



Don’t let this be a sealed deal.


Julie Foreman Hayes, SELF Feature Editor
Julie is the co-author of Green My Parents, a sustainability manual for kids, a team member for green business giant Opportunity Green  and a writer and marketing consultant for all things healthy, wealthy and sustainable at Funnygreen.com.  She is a Los  Angeles native and is working daily on becoming a better vegetarian.