Extreme Associates director Lizzie Borden is seeking industry support for her efforts to end Canada’s baby seal hunt.
“This is starting again in 14 days and these baby seals are going to be beaten to death,” said Borden, who has started her campaign through the Web site www.protectseals.org and through mailers and telephone calls to industry members.
Since 1987 the killing of Canada’s harp seals had been banned due to public outcry over television footage of the clubbing of baby seals by hunters from the country’s fur industry. Baby seals’ fur is popular with fur traders because it’s white and softer than those of older seals which is brown and is coarser.
But in 2004, the Canadian government lifted the ban but only on seals deemed adolescent or a month old, citing an overpopulation of seals which they said were depleting the country’s cod fisheries.
This week, the Canadian government said it would allow the killing of 325,000 seals when the hunt begins sometime in early April. Last year, the quota was 320,000 seals.
“It makes me sick to my stomach to think that these hunts are going to take place,” Borden said. “So that’s why I’m going out asking for help. Our industry is pretty powerful and we can do something to help the seals.”
In her letter to industry members this week, Borden is asking for people to join a Canadian seafood boycott or sending a donation by accessing U.S. Humane Society’s Web page at http://hsus.ga4.org/campaign/protectseals/ and donating to the effort. Those can provide proof of a donation are eligible to receive a free DVD of their choice from Extreme Associates.
Those who donate $1,000 or more will have a chance to have a date with Extreme Associates contract stars Gia Paloma and Paris Gables and attend an industry party or enjoy an evening clubbing with one of the two stars.
Those who make a donation may e-mail Borden at [email protected].
“It’s a very small thing we’re doing, but it’s important that we get the word out to the industry,” Borden said.
Her husband and Extreme Associates owner Rob Black said he supports his wife’s efforts and is adding a brief segment to his upcoming videos to encourage viewers to join the effort to stop the seal hunt.
“This is her brainchild and her energy and I’m willing to make a call here and a call there and help any way I can,” he said.
Black and Borden say this latest effort has nothing to do with their ongoing federal criminal case in which they are facing multiple counts of production and distribution of obscene material stemming from movies showing simulated rape and violence and rough sex.
“I love what I’m doing, but I also love getting involved in things like this where I can do something to help the seals,” Borden said.
In August 2003, the couple was indicted on 10 criminal counts of violating federal obscenity laws and were facing up to 50 years in jail and a $2.5 million fine.
In December, the Federal Third Circuit Court overturned a lower court’s decision declaring federal obscenity laws were unconstitutional. A final decision could come from the U.S. Supreme Court.
