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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BRIGITTE BARDOT AND CAPTAIN WATSON OF SEA SHEPHERD RETURN TO CANADA TO COMBAT CONTROVERSIAL SEAL HUNT Actors Join Sea Shepherd in Calling for End to Annual Baby Seal Slaughter OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, March 21, 2006 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- Brigitte Bardot, the legendary actress who became the first celebrity to use her influence to bring the plight of the harp seals to international media attention nearly three decades ago, is returning to Canada for the first time in 29 years to demand an end to the controversial commercial seal hunt, which resumed in 1995 after being shut down since 1984. Bardot will join her old friend, New Brunswick native and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) Founder and President Captain Paul Watson, and Girlfriends TV star and animal activist Persia White, at a press conference tomorrow: Date: Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 Time: 2 p.m. Place: Marriott Hotel, 100 Kent Street, Ottawa, Canada Last year, the world looked on in horror as the Canadian government permitted the killing of more than 320,000 harp seals, and the quota has been raised to 325,000 this year. In the past three years alone, more than 1 million seals have been cruelly slaughtered - most of them pups under one month old. The seals are clubbed repeatedly and an estimated 42 percent are skinned alive while their mothers look on helplessly. They are killed mainly for vanity - for fur coats and other luxury items. 
Captain Watson, one of the co-founders of Greenpeace, helped organize and lead the first campaign to protect seals on the East Coast of Canada in 1976. During this campaign, Watson and the late Robert Hunter, also a co-founder of Greenpeace, (whose daughter Emily will also be attending the press conference), blocked a sealing ship by standing on the ice in its path. The following year, Watson led the second mission to oppose the seal hunt off the coast of Labrador, this time bringing Brigitte Bardot onto the ice floes with him to witness and help document the slaughter.
"The harp seal hunt is a big, bloody stain on Canada's reputation," says Watson. "There is absolutely no excuse for butchering helpless babies - it's an international disgrace." Copies of the SSCS Video Highlights Reel (including sound bites from Martin Sheen and Captain Watson, B-roll of baby seals, and footage of the seal hunt) will be available at the press conference. For more information or to obtain a copy of these materials, visit: http://media-seals.seashepherd2.org About Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an International non-profit conservation organization whose mission is to defend, conserve, and protect the world's marine wildlife and ecosystems. Their website, www.seashepherd.org, documents SSCS research, direct action, public education and outreach programs, and illustrates how SSCS has continuously worked for decades to eradicate pirate whaling, poaching, shark finning, sealing, unlawful habitat destruction, and other violations of established laws intended to protect the world's oceans. Captain Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd's founder and President, also co-founder of Greenpeace Foundation, is a Director of Sierra Club USA, and is a renowned, respected leader in environmental issues. CONTACT: Heather Callin (360) 370-5650 heather@seashepherd.org |
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