Just when the Canadian government thought it had figured out a way to put the money-losing seal slaughter in the black by selling seal meat to China …

Hmmm … if China doesn't want the spoils of the world's largest marine-mammal massacre, what's Canada to do? How about, um, don't club seals? Just an idea …

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Tuftronic10000 / CC by 2.0

Despite record low ice levels, Canadian officials seem hell bent on choking down baby seal flesh before they'll willingly choke back their pride and denounce the seal slaughter. According to news reports, tomorrow, in an effort to thumb their noses at the E.U.'s recent seal-product ban, Canada's parliamentary restaurant will be serving seal meat to politicians (and in other news, I just threw up a little).

This isn't the first time that government officials have proposed placing the decomposing flesh of a bludgeoned baby seal on their menu, and according to Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette, the bloody feast is meant to demonstrate "the solidarity of the Canadian Parliament behind those who earn a living from the seal hunt."

(Not so) sorry to break it to Senator Hervieux-Payette, but the commercial seal slaughter, which accounts for 97 percent of seals killed each year, is not a subsistence trade. Profit from the slaughter barely exceeded C$1 million in 2009, and the average pay for a sealer was just C$200.

So, after you RSVP to our International Day of Action for seals, join the more than half a million people who have urged Canada to cancel the massacre.

Written by Logan Scherer

Well, I just lost my appetite. And it's thanks to the announcement that a "members-only" restaurant will soon be serving seal meat to politicians and journalists who work on Canada's Parliament Hill.

gan.ca / CC

Back in 2008, some Canadian senators called for seal flesh to be added to the restaurant's menu as a show of support for Canada's annual seal slaughter, but they couldn't locate a supplier, since most seal-hunting firms cash in on fur sales to Russia and China. The restaurant isn't likely to sell out of seal: One of Canada's own senators said that he's heard that it tastes "horrible," and Quebec Liberal MP Marcel Proulex, who pushed for the nauseating menu item, admits that while it's unlikely that suppliers will get rich from its sale, "[a]t least we'll be sending the message that we're not afraid of seal meat."

Canada seems bent on thumbing its nose at compassion. PETA's Dan Mathews notes, "It's a very peculiar, disturbing cruelty unique to Canada, and it's just bizarre when a country like Canada, which is known for so many advanced policies in the social realm, would be so stuck in the Dark Ages about its support of such a hideous cruelty."

With people around the world voicing their disgust and taking action against the seal slaughter, I'm going to guess that Canada will soon be able to file this "show of support" in the record books right alongside the plan to include seal skin in Olympic uniforms. Epic fail!

Written by Karin Bennett