The Humane Society of the United States is proud to announce that WinCo Foods, Inc. has joined The HSUS ProtectSeals campaign to put economic pressure on the Canadian fishing industry to help end the cruel and unnecessary slaughter of baby harp seals. This year's hunt is scheduled to begin at the end of March.

WinCo Foods is an employee-owned company presently consisting of 61 large discount supermarkets (with more scheduled to open this year), with more than 11,000 employee owners. WinCo stores are located in California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington and have a large selection of grocery, bakery, deli, meat, seafood and large bulk food sections.  

"WinCo is an exemplary corporation that exhibits true compassion for the environment and the plight of the baby seals in Canada," said Patricia Ragan, director of The ProtectSeals Campaign. "We applaud WinCo for speaking out against this terrible atrocity."

"We believed it was proper for us to stand with other grocers, restaurants and suppliers against this inhumane slaughter," said Michael Read, vice president of public and legal affairs for WinCo Foods. "As a company we felt it was appropriate to take this position on behalf of our employees. Under present circumstances, this is the right thing to do."

By encouraging restaurants, chefs and consumers to boycott Canadian seafood, The HSUS intends to convince that country's fishing industry to stop participating in and supporting the commercial seal hunt.

WinCo Foods joins more than 3,500 restaurants, grocery stores, hotels and casinos across the United States who have pledged to avoid buying Canadian seafood until the government-sanctioned hunt is stopped. Other campaign participants include Legal Sea Foods, Whole Foods Markets, Trader Joe's, Margaritaville Cafes, Ted's Montana Grill, Oceanaire and EarthFare.

Since the ProtectSeals Campaign was launched in 2005, the value of Canadian seafood imports into this country has dropped dramatically.

Facts:

• The HSUS launched the campaign against Canadian seafood in March 2005.
• Seal hunting is an off-season activity conducted by commercial fishermen from Canada's East Coast.
• Restaurants, seafood distributors and grocers participating in the ProtectSeals campaign pledge to avoid Canadian snow crab, or all seafood from Eastern Canada, or seafood from all of Canada until the hunt ends for good.
• Nearly two-thirds of Canadian seafood is exported to the U.S. producing $2.5 billion annually for the Canadian economy. 
• Canadian government trade statistics reveal that Canadian exports of snow crabs — the chief export product from Canada's sealing provinces — to the U.S. have dropped by nearly $500 million in the two and a half years since the campaign was launched.  In contrast, the landed value of the Canadian seal hunt in 2007 was approximately $12 million.
• In addition to the more than 3,500 companies that are participating in the campaign, more than 545,000 individuals have signed pledges not to buy or consume Canadian seafood.
• Canada's commercial seal hunt is the world's largest slaughter of marine mammals, with more than one million seals killed in the past three years.
• Canada's seal hunt is expected to begin in a few weeks despite the threat of global warming, which decimated last year's population of newborn seal pups — more than 90 percent of them died due to melting ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence last year.

For more information about the campaign to save Canadian seals and to sign the boycott pledge, please visit humanesociety.org/protectseals.

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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization — backed by 10.5 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the web at humanesociety.org.