Rock icon and animal advocate Joan Jett's version of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" topped the charts, but one thing Joan doesn't love is the Edmonton Valley Zoo's refusal to release its lone elephant, Lucy, to a sanctuary. Ahead of her performance in Alberta on Saturday, Joan sent a letter to Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel and the zoo's director, Denise Prefontaine, reminding them that every moment that Lucy remains in Edmonton is a misery. Joan writes, "This animal is basically being tortured. I urge you to please release Lucy to a sanctuary before the unbearably cold Canadian winter weather returns this year."

Edmonton officials should follow the lead of their colleagues in Toronto, who overwhelmingly voted by a 31-4 majority to send the zoo's three elephants to sanctuary.

Elephant experts agree that if elephants are not with others of their kind, these highly intelligent and social animals experience psychological distress, and Lucy has been the only elephant at the Edmonton Valley Zoo for more than four years. The cold climate and confinement to a small barn have also contributed to Lucy's poor health. She suffers from arthritis, obesity, chronic foot ailments, and respiratory problems, all of which would likely improve if she were able to join other elephants at a sanctuary with a more appropriate climate and miles of open space to roam.

Please join Joan, Bob Barker, William Shatner, George Laraque, PETA, Zoocheck, and the thousands of compassionate Canadians who are campaigning for Lucy's freedom by clicking here to contact Mayor Mandel and the Edmonton City Council right now.

Written by Heather Faraid Drennan

In a hard-hitting interview with Canada's CTV network, the ever-eloquent Bob Barker blasts the Edmonton Valley Zoo and city officials for refusing to transfer Lucy, the zoo's ailing and aging elephant, to a sanctuary. Lucy will spend most of the next six frigid Alberta months alone inside a barren barn with nothing to do but sway and dream of the life that she was meant to have.

Bob, pulling no punches, calls Lucy's living conditions "really just one of the worst cases that I know of" and says that he is "appalled at the misery that Lucy has suffered there in Edmonton at the Valley Zoo." Watch here to see Bob take Edmonton and zoo officials to task.

Both Bob and former NHL powerhouse Georges Laraque have offered to make a $100,000 donation to the city to get the transfer underway, and earlier this year, comedian Steve-O led a PETA protest outside the zoo. Canadian William Shatner appealed directly to the mayor to do the right thing for Lucy. But so far, officials have refused to budge.

We're pushing full speed ahead to get Lucy's case heard in Canada's Supreme Court, but in the meantime, please e-mail polite notes to Edmonton's mayor and city council and beg them to move Lucy before winter sets in.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

Thanks to Vancouver native and actor Emmanuelle Vaugier, the Canadian government's shady backroom financial support of the barbaric annual seal slaughter is being exposed. The Covert Affairs star visited PETA's L.A. office to narrate a new video exposé on the seal slaughter, and Entertainment Tonight Canada camera crews were there to document why Vaugier, like so many Canadians, including William Shatner and Sarah McLachlan, are disgusted by the largest slaughter of marine mammals on Earth.

Watch the Canadian ET Exclusive now.

In the soon-to-be-released video, Vaugier says that while the beating and skinning of baby seals "is obviously cruel," it's also a waste of money. "Canada spends more than C$7 million in taxpayer funds each year subsidizing this massacre. Millions more are spent propping up this dying industry ...."

Why should the Canadian government continue to waste millions on an industry that most Canadians abhor? Let the government know that you stand with the majority of the country and oppose the senseless killing of baby seals.  

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Just in time for Canada's tax day, William Shatner has news for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper: He's living in deep space if he thinks the annual seal slaughter is fiscally responsible. In a letter to the prime minister, Canadian-born Shatner says, "Not only is it cruel to bludgeon and shoot thousands of seals every year, the slaughter also costs taxpayers millions more to support than it actually earns." 
 
Canada spends millions of dollars in taxpayer money propping up the commercial seal slaughter, even though income from the massacre accounts for less than 1 percent of Newfoundland's economy. A study in 2010 at Canada's University of Guelph found that ending the slaughter would save Canada at least $7 million each year.
 

 
Why does the slaughter continue? As Shatner puts it, "At a time of massive budget cuts in Canada, when many Canadians are struggling just to pay their bills, the government continues to defend this dying industry because both the conservative and liberal parties crave the region's seven swing seats in Parliament."

Please e-mail Prime Minister Harper and ask him to "boldly go where no man has gone before" and put an end to the unprofitable, barbaric seal slaughter immediately.
 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's … Steve-O! The vegan comedian and daredevil led a PETA protest outside the Edmonton Valley Zoo to call on zoo officials to allow Lucy, the ailing and lonely elephant at the zoo, to retire to an elephant sanctuary. "I'm sympathetic to Lucy because I know that elephants in their natural habitat will walk some 30 miles every day," Steve-O says. "I don't understand how the zoo's able to keep her. It seems so black and white." 

As Steve-O notes, elephants need to walk around and move freely. Edmonton's frigid winters mean that Lucy spends months on end inside a barn. Is it any wonder she's suffering from arthritis, chronic foot problems, and an undiagnosed respiratory ailment?  Lucy—who has been in the zoo for more than 30 years—is depressed and needs the company of other elephants and room to move around.

You can help by joining Steve-O, Bob Barker, William Shatner,  and NHL veteran Georges Laraque in appealing to zoo officials  to allow Lucy to retire to a sanctuary.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

Retired NHL player and Edmonton resident Georges Laraque has offered Edmonton's mayor $100,000 to help fund city sports programs if the city will agree to release Lucy, the ailing, solitary elephant in Edmonton's Valley Zoo, to a reputable sanctuary in a warmer climate.

Laraque, who also spent a few seasons with the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs, joins Bob Barker and fellow Canadian William Shatner in calling on the city to allow Lucy to spend the rest of her life walking in grassy fields and meadows, swimming in ponds, and most importantly, spending time with other elephants.

Please join Georges in asking Edmonton city officials to do the right thing for this sad elephant.

Written by Jennifer O’Connor

answers / CC

What has actor, singer, and author William Shatner (Canada's triple threat) been up to since nabbing the Emmy for Boston Legal?

The "Priceline Negotiator" recently made a plea for the release of the Edmonton Zoo's lonely, ailing elephant, Lucy.

In a letter to Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel, Mr. Shatner wrote, "I humbly ask you to allow Lucy to retire to better circumstances than at the Edmonton Zoo … she's old, feeble, and many of us know how that feels."

He joins pachyderm protectors around the world in rallying for Lucy's release.

Two years ago, elephant expert Winnie Kiiru named the Edmonton Zoo the worst zoo in Canada for elephants and called for the closure of the exhibit. Edmonton's frigid winter weather and the zoo's policy of locking Lucy in the barn when the zoo is closed mean that she spends the majority of her time indoors. The short amount of time that Lucy is allowed outdoors is spent in a barren, dusty enclosure. Being forced to endure the cold and the forced immobility is fueling her arthritis and causing chronic foot and respiratory problems.

Please add your pleas to Mr. Shatner's by writing to Mayor Mandel. Urge him to release Lucy to a sanctuary that can offer her hundreds of acres of diverse terrain, ponds for bathing, a more suitable climate, and the company of other elephants.

Written by Karin Bennett