The concept of a federal buyout is simple: rather than wasting tax money on a hunt with no market, the Canadian government can actually save money by offering to pay sealers a fair dollar amount to give up their license to kill.

Veterinarians say Canada’s commercial seal slaughter is inherently inhumane and nations are taking action by banning trade in seal products. Yet the Canadian government still authorizes the cruel slaughter of hundreds of thousands of seals each year -- even using government funds to finance the purchase of seal pelts.

Each year, our team witnesses conscious, wounded baby seals left to suffer in agony -- impaled on metal hooks, dragged across the ice, and cut open -- all for their pelts to be stockpiled in a warehouse. Even Newfoundland sealers with an opinion support a federal sealing industry buyout. With this plan, the seal slaughter would end, sealers would receive financial compensation, and economic alternatives would be developed.

Please ask Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to end the slaughter once and for all with a federal sealing industry buyout.