Sometimes seals are on Sarah McLachlan's shirt. Sometimes they drive tractors. Sometimes they're in Washington, D.C.

And, as it turns out, sometimes they block the entrance to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City to protest Canada's seal slaughter while the country's prime minister, Stephen Harper, is inside at a meeting … and then they're taken away by the police.

© starmaxinc.com
This "seal of disapproval" let a crowd of people outside the hotel know that tens of thousands of harp seals are slaughtered in Canada each year.

© starmaxinc.com
This seal will live to protest another day. Baby seals whose skulls are bashed in during the seal slaughter aren't as lucky.

Take action! Tell Prime Minister Harper that the seal slaughter must end.

Posted by Amanda Schinke

This morning, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with President Obama at the Canadian Embassy in D.C., he got a welcome that I'm sure he won't forget any time soon.

Three "seals" covered with red paint writhed on the ground to illustrate what happens to hundreds of thousands of harp seals in Canada.

Fifteen other demonstrators held up stop signs reading, "Harper: Stop the Seal Slaughter."

With D.C. traffic already backed up, the cops weren't thrilled with the additional congestion.

Luckily, the officers weren't armed with hakapiks.

If Prime Minister Harper wants a warmer welcome next time, the first thing that he should do is stop the annual seal slaughter.

Posted by Liz Graffeo

This week at the summit of North American leaders, President Obama discussed his stimulus plan, which is aimed at improving the U.S. economy. It includes a "buy American" clause that requires projects funded with stimulus money to use only American goods.

Guess who's up in arms?

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Prime Minister Harper is concerned that if America switches to products made in the US of A instead of buying those made in Canada, his country will suffer a significant financial blow.

That's exactly what we've been saying!

By boycotting Canadian maple syrup—one of Canada's major revenue sources—consumers can help pressure the government to end the annual seal slaughter.

You heard the prime minister—buy American! But before you head out to the supermarket, check out these pictures from our latest demonstration outside the Canadian Consulate in Denver, Colorado:

Posted by Liz Graffeo

businessreport / CC

In an effort to clean up its act before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the city of Victoria is building four new waste-treatment plants to handle the tens of millions of gallons of raw sewage that are currently being pumped into Puget Sound every day.

Processing sewage isn't the only thing that Canada needs to do in order to clean up its act before the Games. That's why we're suggesting that until Canada's prime minister finally washes the blood of baby seals from his hands, one of the new sewage plants be named the "Stephen Harper 'Something's Rotten' Sewage Treatment Plant" in his honor.

That's just our little way of reminding him that allowing hundreds of thousands of seals to be shot and beaten to death each year is a load of crap.

If Stephen Harper really wants his country to look good in time for the 2010 Olympics, he needs to act now to make sure that there won't be another seal massacre in 2010.

Otherwise, Harper may well find himself in deep doo-doo.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

smh.com.au / CC

With baby seal corpses littering Canadian ice floes, this year's seal slaughter has finally ended—but the outrage over the Canadian government's refusal to stop the killing is just getting revved up.

Outcry against the seal slaughter is echoing around the globe. The European Union and the U.S. have banned seal products, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for an immediate end to the slaughter, and world leaders have spoken out against the massacre. Demonstrations from London to Hamburg and Los Angeles to Toronto have made headlines, and people all over the world have sent a strong, united message that the seal bloodbath must end.

It's clear that the Canadian seal slaughter is quickly losing favor and support: This year, about three-fourths of the seals who were expected to be bludgeoned or shot to death were spared. But we still need your help to make sure that Canada doesn't think the protests will end just because the killing has slowed.

One dead seal is still too many, so we've revved up our campaign to get the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee to use its clout to stop the seal slaughter. Check out our new Web site OlympicShame2010.com and give us a hand, won't you?

Posted by Shawna Flavell

frontiersoups / CC

Plainly put: Money talks, and governments are slow to change the status quo unless they are compelled by an overwhelming response from outside forces.

Canada produces 85 percent of the world's maple syrup, and the maple leaf is known throughout the world to represent Canada. And, unlike seal skins, which have been banned throughout the U.S. and Europe, Canadian maple syrup is a product found in many grocery stores and kitchen pantries. A boycott of this iconic product will send a strong message to the Canadian government that people living both in and outside the country will not stand by while baby seals are beaten and skinned in front of their bellowing mothers.

The Canadian government has claimed that it continues to support the seal massacre for economic reasons. By boycotting maple syrup, continuing to hold demonstrations around the world, and targeting the upcoming 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, we will send the message that continuing the massive commercial seal slaughter will hurt Canada's economy far more than it helps it. Every time someone takes PETA's online pledge to boycott Canadian maple syrup, we will send a copy directly to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canada's Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day so that they realize how hard their continued support of the seal slaughter is hitting them in the wallet.

Canadian officials may turn a blind eye to seals' immense suffering, but the outcry against the seal slaughter echoes around the globe. Many compassionate Canadians have already spoken out against the slaughter, and PETA hopes that, as this year's slaughter draws to a close, Canadians will rally to defend their international reputation and tell their government once and for all that they will no longer stand by as this bloody massacre takes place in their country.

As a pancake and seal lover, I'll be buying only American maple syrup until Canada comes to its senses. Won't you join us?

Posted by Karin Bennett

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Quit slaughtering the seals!
Happy birthday to you!

Or at least that's what I like to think these caring people were singing when they stopped by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's home to deliver a few birthday balloons for his big 5-0.

This young veg'un (isn't he adorable?) is older than most of the seals Prime Minister Harper allows to be butchered.

Since when you do need a police escort to deliver balloons?

Sergeant Mitch Monette took the balloons on the Prime Minister's behalf.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

This is it, people. If you haven't written to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee yet, today is the day. Not only did Canada's annual seal slaughter start today, they've actually increased the quota of seals that can be slaughtered. This means that seal killers can legally bash in the heads of up to 338,200 seals in the coming weeks. That's right—the world's biggest marine mammal slaughter just got bigger.

If you need a refresher course in just how disgusting the seal slaughter is, watch this video:

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That's what the Canadian government has the unmitigated gall to call "humane." I kid you not.

Help stop this senseless massacre. Click here and here for a list of easy actions you can take for seals today. And please encourage your friends, family, and everyone you see on the street to do the same.

Posted by Alisa Mullins