As we mentioned recently, the EU has issued a ruling that upholds its ban on products from the bloody annual Canadian seal massacre. Now the only remaining challenge to that ban rests with the World Trade Organization (WTO), which just concluded its hearings—with PETA in attendance—and things didn't go well for Canada.

Fur Industry Falls Flat

During the hearings, the EU demonstrated that it is not possible to ensure that the seals are unconscious when they are killed. Canada tried to argue that seals decimate cod populations (which local fishers want for themselves), but the EU pointed out that science has shown that the decline of fish populations can be blamed on reckless overfishing. 

In the end, if the hearings weren't so important, they might have seemed like a bad joke: Canada succeeded only in calling attention to its own marine mismanagement. This may finally sound the death knell for Canada's seal slaughter, since even its one-time supporters have acknowledged that it has become untenable. We'll keep you posted here at The PETA Files.

Thanks are due to all the good folks who expressed their concerns to the WTO on behalf of PETA or PETA UK, including Jude Law, Pamela Anderson, Joan Jett, Iggy Pop, and Sarah McLachlan. They asked the organization to uphold the ban and/or urged the WTO to hold open hearings—which it did, making it possible for a PETA representative to be present.

How You Can Help

The end is in sight, but we can't slack off now—please tell Canadian officials that it's time to stop the slaughter, and then spread the word to get more people involved today.

Just days after the start of Canada's annual seal slaughter, Anna Karenina star Jude Law appealed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on PETA UK's behalf, urging panelists to uphold the EU-wide ban on seal fur. The WTO's final hearing on the issue will be held on April 29.

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Because of the worldwide outcry, all major markets have banned seal-fur imports, including the EU, Mexico, Taiwan, the U.S., and even Russia, which had been importing 95 percent of Canada's seal fur. The Canadian government is challenging the EU ban as a last-ditch effort to try to revive the trade.

"The purpose of the WTO is to support efficient markets, not government decisions to prop up dying industries like the seal slaughter," Law points out. "Rather than using the WTO to prop up a dying industry, Canada should pursue a buyout of the commercial sealing industry – a move that would help both seals and sealers. The world is watching and waiting – please uphold the EU ban."

What You Can Do

We have reached a tipping point in the campaign but still need your help. Please speak up for seals by taking action. 

 
In an effort to further delay the phase out of the commercial seal slaughter, Canada has asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to hold a hearing about the ban on seal products by E.U. member countries. As usual, Canada is expected to argue that its annual massacre of baby seals (who are tortured by being hooked in the eye or mouth and dragged them across the ice, where they are then bludgeoned and skinned, sometimes while still alive), is "humane." And as usual, Canada will want to keep the hearings behind closed doors.

Canadian-born singer Sarah McLachlan, who sported PETA’s seal tee on Canada Day last year, penned a private letter to Canada's minister of international trade, Peter Van Loan, urging him to make the hearings open to the public and make the materials submitted to the WTO publicly available when filed. 
  

It could take several months for the WTO panel to issue a ruling, but there is no doubt the E.U. will hold firm to its right not to buy the skins of tortured seals. You can exercise your rights by sharing a pro-seal message with your friends on Facebook or posting it to your MySpace page. 

Written by Michelle Sherrow