Ke$ha Joins Seal Hunt Protest

Keha Seal Hunt

First Posted: 03/12/2012 8:16 am Updated: 03/12/2012 2:37 pm


American pop singer Ke$ha is the latest celebrity to join the protest against the seal hunt in Atlantic Canada.


Ke$ha, best known for her debut single Tik Tok, appears in a video posted by the Humane Society of the United States.


"Every year thousands of baby seals are clubbed to death by Canadian fishermen," said Ke$ha in a YouTube video.


"You can help by pledging to boycott Canadian seafood."


Other celebrities who have put their names forward in an effort to stop the hunt include B.C. native Pamela Anderson and British musical legend Paul McCartney.


The Humane Society of the United States has been encouraging consumers and chefs to sign up for the boycott for years.


Mike McGeoghegan, president of the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association, calls it ridiculous.


"We have a problem with seals here on Prince Edward Island and they have to be looked at. It wouldn't matter if it was seals or bunny rabbits or anything else," said McGeoghegan.


"They're out of control and the lady [Ke$ha] needs to get her facts. Come and, you know, talk to the fishermen and talk to [scientists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans], and just look at the facts. Most of the fishermen don't deal with the seals at all. We just have the effects of the seals up against the gear."


He does not believe the boycott will be effective.


Loading Slideshow...
  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    Seal hunters use a hakapik, a club used for killing seals, to kill a seal near their boat in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence March 31, 2008 near Charlottetown, Canada. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    Seal hunters skin harp seals on an ice floe March 30, 2001 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    The bodies of harp seals, roughly twenty days old, lie on an ice floe March 27, 2001 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    The carcass of a harp seal, roughly twenty days old, lies on an ice floe March 30, 2001 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    The carcass of a harp seal, roughly twenty days old, lies on an ice floe March 30, 2001 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    The carcass of a harp seal, roughly twenty days old, lies on an ice floe March 30, 2001 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    Seal hunters carry dead seals in their boat in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence March 31, 2008 near Charlottetown, Canada. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    A policeman tries to remove female animal-rights activist Ashley Fruno (R), covered with a body-painting to look like the Canadian flag, during her one-woman anti-sealing protest by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) outside the Canadian embassy in Tokyo on March 24, 2010. (TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    Animal rights activists, Sir Paul McCartney(R) and then-wife Heather Mills McCartney get up close to a seal pup during a venture onto the ice floes of the Gulf of St-Lawrence before the start of the 2006 seal hunting season in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. (DAVID BOILY/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    Members of the organization for the defense of animals AnimalNaturalis protest naked and painted as bloody seals to protest the seal hunt in Canada on March 15, 2010. (Getty)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    Members of the organization for the defense of animals AnimalNaturalis protest naked and painted as bloody seals to protest against the seal hunt in Canada on March 15, 2010. (Getty)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    Inuit hunter Pitseolak Alainga (L) explains how the Inuit traditionally hunt seal to Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty outside the Nunavut Legislature in Iqaluit, Canada, February 6, 2010. (GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    An animal-rights activist holds a baseball bat as he stands next to a person wearing a seal costume during a protest against the killing of seals in Canada on March 29, 2010 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    An animal-rights activist wears a mask depicting the face of a seal during a protest against the killing of seals in Canada on March 29, 2010 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    People protest in front of the Canadian Consulates, on March 25, 2009 in Nice, south eastern France, to protest against the seal hunt in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in Canada. (VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    Having recently returned from a trip out to the ice floes to collect seal heart valves for scientific research, local butcher and seal hunter, Rejean Vigneau (R) and AN employee (L) prepare seal meat in his meat shop on March 25, 2008 in the Magdalen Islands of Quebec, Canada. (DAVID BOILY/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Canadian Seal Hunt

    The Grim Reaper clubs a mock seal to death during a protest by the animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animlas) in Hong Kong, 21 April 2006. (MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images)

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MA
progressive not obsessive
03:43 PM on 03/15/2012
Ke$ha - trying to substitute social conscience for lack of talent.
07:20 AM on 03/13/2012
Boycot Canadian seafood, now if that means the foreign fleets will stop poaching in Canadian waters sounds like a good idea-hope it catches on quickly!
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Opus Fideo
Atheist. Social Democrat. Canadian.
07:08 PM on 03/12/2012
Poor Seal, first it was the divorce from Klum, now people are hunting him...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
see-ellen2001
03:12 PM on 03/12/2012
I never see celebrities in the news outraged at how certain reptilian populations are being decimated. But then again, reptiles are not furry with big eyes, and look good in a photo op.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Doogs62
To see by faith is to shut the eye of reason
12:56 PM on 03/12/2012
Rather than boycotting the Seal hunt. They should have an Adopt-a-Seal program. Fisheries Canada can give a Seal to anyone who wants one under the condition they take it home with them. This way the Seal population is controlled and the PETA crowd get furry little pets at no cost to them (food, medical expenses, shipping and handling not included). Or we could just stop killing them and soon enough every household on the East and West Coasts will have one anyway assuming there's any food left for them. Here's another option we can take them to Marineworld and let them share the Orca pool. That's a cuddly thought! Seals and Killer Whales swimming together. I hope you sensed the sarcasm here.

There is no easier solution to the problem as atricious as it seems than killing these animals. The Polar Bear and Orca populations have collapsed, sharks rarely travel in the Gulf/ Maritime waters (although Great Whites may eventually start using them as a feeding ground given the opportunity) and there really are no other natural predators. So Ke$ha we would love to hear your options for the Maritime Seal poulation. Otherwise you're blowing hot air.
11:12 AM on 03/12/2012
People need to get a little common sense and knowledge before getting on the 'save the seal' train. There are currently approx 5.5 million seals in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Now, while your walking to your favorite fish and chips shack, think about why they don't offer cod anymore. 5.5 million seals, without a natural predator other then man, eating 10 pounds of fish a day, = 55 million pounds of fish per day, or 20,075,000,000 pounds of fish per year. Now, think about that a minute. 20 billion pounds per year. Its no wonder the east coast fishery collapsed.
11:10 AM on 03/12/2012
Another uninformed "celebrity" opens her mouth about something she knows nothing about. McCartney showed his ignorance during his Larry King interview with the NL Premier. Kesha does the same simply by opening her mouth.

Well sorry, there's now a boycott on you in Canada as well. There is a facebook group with substantial membership from the club and music community in the country urging dance bars and radio stations to boycott her music. Were I on facebook, I'd post the link. If any celebrity wants to open their mouth about something, they should go first hand to see what they are talking about instead of jumping on the bandwagon of unsubstantiated "facts." Sure some do, but not enough.

But we don't expect sense from celebrities do we? Eample Heather Mills; She actually went on the ice flows and touched seal pups. They were abandoned! A pup's mother won't touch it after it has come in contact with humans. She caused baby seal deaths, but nothing was done about it (DFO decided against pressing charges).

Regardless of why we kill animals, the death is not humane, so let's just get over that idea. Next time you eat meat, wear makeup, or take medication, just remember: if it wasn't for abuse of animals at some point, you wouldn't be able to. It may not be done now for some forms of testing, but it once was: we have what we have because of those actions. Everyone's hands have blood on them.
10:56 AM on 03/12/2012
When people are this far removed from the natural world and food production they have no idea what it takes in terms of animal suffering to put affordable meat on the table.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Victor Saymong
Canuck up Toronto way
10:12 AM on 03/12/2012
One of Canada's great shames. More pressure from abroad will put an end to this insane barbarity. Other shames include: the treatment of our aboriginal peoples, our asbestos exports, our tar sands, our abandonment of Kyoto and other green initiatives, our Conservative government...
evecaren
Every cloud has a silver lining
11:04 AM on 03/12/2012
The seal hunt is definitely one of Canada's great shames. Totally agree, Victor.
They say the seal hunt is humane. It's anything but humane. The hunt is barbaric and
cruel. If you're not convinced that the seal hunt isn't cruel, just take a closer look at
the photographs that are on display here on Huffpost under the caption Seal Hunt.
I've also read quite a bit on the seal hunt. The sealers claim they don't kill white coats.
They kill baby seals less than two months old. Autopsies on what's left of the seals
have revealed that many of the baby seals that were killed had their mother's milk still
inside them. This is beyond disgusting and I know other details of the hunt that
nighmares of made of and which I will not share because it's so horrible. I also read
somewhere that most female seals only have one pup per season and can you imagine
a mother seal watching helpfessly while her only baby is being clubbed to death. We
need to stop this horrific, barbaric seal hunt.
01:01 PM on 03/12/2012
Your right, in its current form it is barbaric. So lets go back to using a gun, pay the hunters for the bullets, and kill the mother seal as well. There is not a natural predator for the seals in the gulf. There are 5.5 million of them. They breed every 2-3 years which means there are close to a million seals born over a 2 year period. So... what would you suggest... leave them alone till they eat themselves into a starvation period? Or a disease wipes out half of them? Think about the numbers... I already posted the math, buts lets take it abit further.

20 billion pounds of fish eaten each year. That works out to about enough fish to feed 100 million people, 1/2 pound serving of fish every day. Now, I look in the paper today and saw 'dressed' haddock for 1.10 per pound. Thats the crappy scappings off the processing plant floor. So lets say instead of the jobs and the food, we just make that about the cash... that 20 billion pounds will = $22 billion.
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Bumpers car
Fish till you die
08:44 AM on 03/12/2012
God, how stupid are these people. They join the band wagon when the hunt is almost dead, they milk the publicity for all it's worth and ignore the fact that the people they represent, PETA and the American Humane society kill more abandoned animals each year then the the seal hunt did in the last 10. Don't believe me? go look up the stats on line! PETA kills 90% of all animals it recieves while it rants about protecting them. The American Humane socity is the operator of kill shelters the U S and the Canadian Humane socity is the same in Canada. Most of the dog rescue operations in the U S and Canada spend thousands per animal saving dogs from "Kill Shelters" operated by Humane Societies. Take a look at how Toronto handled a perfectly treatable outbreak of canaine desease 2 years ago. Its answer was to kill every dog in the kennel.