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SEAL SONG by Brian Davies

SEAL SONG

By

Pub Date: Oct. 23rd, 1978
Publisher: Viking

From the first sad-eyed, button-nosed photograph, this nakedly emotional book pleads for an end to the annual Canadian seal slaughter. Roger Caras, in the Introduction, extols the courage of Davies and Porter, both victims of mob violence because of their interventions. Ray Bradbury, in the Preface, adds a few thoughts on the family of animals and man. And Davies follows the harp seal's life cycle, marvels at its underwater endurance, and charts the unfinished history of the Save the Seals campaign. Why does Canada continue such destruction when a poll found 57 percent of the population opposed? Of the several reasons given, the first faults politics and the PM: ""the seals and men suffer because Prime Minster Trudeau has abandoned Newfoundland to a Stone Age economy."" Without pretending to understand the attitudes of his adversaries, Davies makes a strong argument for his side, but it's the photographs that really speak out: baby seals in all their furry innocence, underwater or on the ice, in numerous black-and-whites throughout and in lush (too lush) full-color insets. It won't convert the opposition but may win new supporters.