|
|
IWMC
World Conservation Trust |
|
Anti-Conservationist of
the Month
|
This month, IWMC World Conservation Trust is not pleased
to announce that Rick Smith, Canadian Director for the International Fund For
Animal Welfare (IFAW), should be considered Anti-Conservationist of the Month,
for his statements and for the IFAW position that resulted in the non-use of
young-of-the-year Harp and Hooded seals.
 According to the Globe and Mail, (Februrary 23, 2002) Smith applauded a
Canadian court decision that declares that the Federal Government of Canada has
the right to prohibit the taking, sale and trade in certain seal pelts,
upsetting the rights formerly believed to have been held by provincial
governments such as Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador. Sealers had brought suit
against the federal government, declaring that a federal ban on taking of
whitecoats and bluebacks was unconstitutional. The court decided that since the
issue is a matter of national concern, (because of fears of a fish boycott by
IFAW) that the federal government has the right to enforce the ban.
Smith's role in this is that of cheerleader. The IFAW has always campaigned
against the taking of "baby" seals, on grounds of the manufactured
cultural preference of IFAW donors, not on grounds that to do so, was
biologically harmful in that marine ecosystem.
Rick Smith is carrying on the usual IFAW campaign that is both ridiculous
and harmful to seals, fish and people. He typifies the spirit of the
Anti-Conservation Agenda that has plagued sustainable use programs for the past
twenty years. 
|
