Harpseals.org (The Official Page)

Crazy UK animal rescues of 2020 include this grey seal rescue: "In Llanelli, workers at a gym equipment warehouse were stunned to find a grey seal pup amongst the treadmills, believed to have travelled up the River Loughor before making his way into the warehouse." https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk//18987778.rspca-cymru/

Happy Holidays. We wish you and yours health and happiness in the coming year. We also wish that, as the world emerges from the pandemic, those who have killed seals will see the light and appreciate them for their beauty, charisma, and the crucial role they play on planet earth.

Today is Giving Tuesday. We hope that you'll include Harpseals.org in your charitable contributions today. Facebook will match donations this year, as it did in previous years. Thank you for your support.

Despite the craziness of this year and the losses that many people have experienced, we can all be thankful that the harp seals got a reprieve this year. Happy Thanksgiving.

Researchers have found that marine mammals, including seals, are susceptible to COVID-19, and human wastewater is a threat to them. https://www.ibtimes.com/whales-seals-highly-susceptible-cov

NOAA has proposed a rule that would allow more harassment and harm to seals and sea lions by fishermen who get angry when they try to 'steal' fish from their nets and lines. Please submit a comment on this rule. The deadline is midnight tomorrow. You'll find the information here, along with a green button to submit your comment. You can do this anonymously. The only required field is the comment. https://www.federalregister.gov//guidelines-for-safely-det Thank you. If you w...ant to copy and paste the comment below, feel free to do so: I agree that avoiding conflicts with marine mammals must take precedence over using deterrents to prevent marine mammals from damaging property or taking fish sought by fishermen. However, I am opposed to giving fishermen and others the right to use potentially harmful materials and devices to deter marine mammals. This proposal would allow certain projectiles to be shot at pinnipeds. Even though some materials, such as paintballs and sponges (in "sponge grenades") may not cause physical harm under the right conditions (low force, hitting an ideal part of an animal's body), in reality, it is impossible to control these situations to such an extent. The animals move; fishermen may be shooting at the pinnipeds from a boat rocking in the ocean. Fishermen are generally not sharpshooters, and even a sharpshooter would have difficulty with shots like these. The proposed rule does not offer sufficiently specific guidance on the use of acoustic devices to prevent fishermen and property owners from abusing such devices and causing permanent harm to marine mammals. Rules that allow the use of acoustic devices must be very specific in the type and duration that is allowed. NOAA should require any such devices to be analyzed and approved by the agency prior to deployment. Explosive devices should not be allowed. It is not possible to determine where all marine mammals are while they are underwater. It is therefore impossible to ensure that no marine mammals will be in close enough proximity to the explosion to be harmed. Impulsive devices and noise-emitting devices should not be used underwater, and minimum distances and maximum sound levels must not pose any danger to pinnipeds and cetaceans. This proposal allows levels that could cause harm to marine mammals and must therefore not be approved as currently written.

The Cape fur seal die-off is getting worse. Can we trust the Namibian government, which refuses to respond to requests for information as has no transparency laws, to investigate this competently and respond with sound policies? When you consider that some years ago they threw a South African Cape fur seal scientist out of the country for expressing concerns about the brutality of their annual Cape fur seal pup massacre, you have to wonder. https://www.wionews.com//mystery-of-7000-dead-seals-at-the

It looks like another Cape fur seal die-off is happening now. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-10/14/c_139440481.htm

Download your free 2021 digital calendar from NOAA to remind you to do your part to keep marine debris out of the oceans. Pinnipeds star in the February picture. All pictures were drawn by kids who care about protecting the oceans. https://marinedebris.noaa.gov//2021_Marine_Debris_Calendar

Seals are being blamed for harming the fish stocks and threatened with culling now in Ireland. It's the same story in Canada, the Pacific Northwest, Ireland, Namibia, and around the world. The plummeting fish populations are never the work of humans in the minds of some people (especially fishermen). This is exactly what our short film, "Seals and Sea Lions: Scoundrels or Scapegoats" addresses. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, please watch it here: https://youtu.be/cVK8...14LSKeo We are currently in the rough cut phase. It's taking a long time because we have gathered a lot of information and many hours of interviews (with 8 scientists and a pinniped veterinarian), and it's not easy to get all the most important information into such a short film. We need your support to distribute the film in Canada and beyond. So if you are able to give, in any amount, please do so. Thank you.

The world needs more conservation and wildlife protection, more wilderness and ocean protection, not massacres of seals, sea lions, dolphins, or whales. Speak out for nature in every way you can. https://edition.cnn.com//un-biodiversity-report/index.html

We are making progress on the short film "Seals and Sea Lions: Scoundrels or Scapegoats?" In this short film, we delve into the complexity of ocean ecosystems. Here is an interesting article about the complex, ever-changing (in surprising ways) ecosystem of the western Cape of southern Africa. You will find Cape fur seals here along with sharks, who prey upon them. Further up the coast is Namibia, where the government still allows, promotes, and subsidizes the annual massacre of Cape fur seal pups and bulls. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za//2020-09-09-something-big/

Hundreds of native American pinnipeds, 540 California sea lions and 176 Steller Sea Lions, will be killed by native American Indians in the U.S. - members of the following tribes: the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. This was sanctioned by Congress - both Democrats and Republicans. This will take place on th...e Columbia river, for the stated purpose of helping salmon, which have been harmed not by pinnipeds but by humans building dams along the river and engaging in many other salmon-harming behaviors. There are probably less than 100,000 Steller sea lions in the world. The western half of the population is endangered, and the eastern half probably still should be considered endangered but was delisted. Our short film, which is in production now, covers this issue of killing pinnipeds to supposedly help salmon. https://www.adn.com//us-officials-allow-killing-of-sea-li/ See more