Animal rights activists have gathered more than 130,000 signatures in an attempt to save two seal pups from a death sentence. 

For 25 years, the Aquarium des ÃŽles-de-la-Madeleine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has been capturing seals to put on display for educational purposes then releasing them back into the wild in the fall. This year, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has decided that the seals, named Zak and Mika, pose a contamination threat and therefore, must be put to death.

Protest began after an employee at the aquarium spread the word to animal rights groups across the globe. The Island Wildlife Natural Care Centre in B.C. and its founder Jeff Lederman, used their website to start a petition and form an action plan to save the seals. Lederman’s group wants the seals to be transported for rehabilitation to the Atlantic Wildlife Institute near Sackville, N.B, then released into the Bay of Fundy.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare has offered to donate the money and facilities needed to accomplish this plan. The only thing standing in the way seems to be the aquarium itself.

The aquarium has asked the public to donate $73,000 to fund their plans to care for, and then transport the seals to the Océanopolis aquarium in Brest, France. This decision, which would cause more risk and haitat change for the seals, has brought about a flood of argument on the aquarium’s Facebook page.

Some commenters are calling for the aquarium’s closure and equating the call for donations to a demand for ransom.

This situation has opened up further speculation into Canada’s ability to care for animals in captivity. Animal rights activists are renewing their push for legislation to provide increased regulations ad protection for these animals.

Lederman says the DFO officials told him they have cancelled the death sentence, though no official announcement has been made. (Radio-Canada)