Written by PETA
It's so hot in the city, you'd think I'd be making another batch of lemonade—but I've got a hankering for some Internet Soup. It's been a while since the last batch, so dig in!
Oof! I don't know about you, but I'm full after all that soup—and guac. This Special K needs a siesta. Until next time …
Written by Karin Bennett
Update: Six horses died during this year's Calgary Stampede. Please take action and ask the Stampede sponsors to disassociate themselves from the event.
As if Canada's annual seal massacre isn't enough, the Calgary Stampede adds to the country's annual death toll. This year it's rodeo business as usual—five horses have already died and the event doesn't end until Sunday.
A fifth horse died yesterday 40 minutes after being forced to participate in the chuckwagon races. These are the Stampede's deadliest events, in which teams of four horses pull old-fashioned "pioneer" wagons around a track at breakneck speed—and often break their bodies as a result. In previous years, we've written to all the sponsors of these endurance races asking them to pull the plug, and we've called upon the chief crown prosecutor to file cruelty-to-animals charges. The Humane Society of Canada has also called for a boycott of the event. So far, except for the death rattle of the horses and the yahooing of the crowd, silence!
Please get everyone you know to tell those who are still sponsoring the Calgary Stampede that the chuckwagon races must be canceled permanently.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
These three:
In honor of Canada Day, we threw a little birthday bash at the Canadian Embassy in D.C. to remind the world that hundreds of thousands of baby seals have their skulls bashed in each year during Canada's annual seal slaughter.
Just because this year's seal hunt is over, it doesn't mean that we should let the Canadian government off the hakapik hook! Keep up the pressure all year round by staying active online.
Written by Amy Elizabeth
The following is a Canada Day guest post from Bill Maher, the genius behind Politically Incorrect and HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher. Maher offered his wit for an op-ed, originally posted in today's Daily News, in a humorous protest against a deadly serious issue: Canada's annual slaughter of tens of thousands of seals—the largest massacre of marine mammals in the world.
Here's some good news from my friends at PETA, just in time for Canada Day on July 1: Canada's annual commercial seal slaughter is over—at least for this year—and more than 80 percent of the seals who had been marked for death were spared because hardly anyone wants to wear baby-seal fur anymore. But Canada won't cancel the massacre outright. Why?
There are a lot of things to admire about our neighbor to the north, but the country's strange seal phobia is not one of them. Canada is terrified of seals. Baby seals, in particular. I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either.
Canada's seal "hunt"—which happens every November to June off Canada's East Coast—is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet, leaving tens of thousands of animals dead every year. And let's be clear: The Canadian government may call it a "hunt," but impaling baby seals in the jaw with hooks, dragging them across the ice, and throwing them into a pile where they choke on their own blood before being skinned isn't a sport—it's a massacre. The video of it is like a starter snuff film designed for serial killers.
Opposition around the world is growing. Last year, the U.S. Senate—a group of people who usually can't agree that the sky is blue—unanimously passed a resolution calling for an immediate end to the annual slaughter. But the Canadian government just keeps putting its fingers in its ears and singing "la, la, la" so that it won't hear anything it doesn't like. Or, if it does hear, it responds with all the subtlety and sophistication of a fistfight in the men's room at a monster-truck rally.
The European Union, for example, recently passed a ban on seal products. So after stomping its feet and jutting out its lower lips for a while, Canada threatened to go tell mom that it's being picked on. Sorry, did I say "mom"? I meant the World Trade Organization. And as if that weren't tone-deaf enough, in response to the EU's ban, Canada's parliament also pushed—unsuccessfully—to incorporate seal skins into the uniforms of the Canadian Olympic team in a desperate attempt to legitimize the seal slaughter.
When Russia announced a ban on the killing of baby harp seals in that country, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called the seal slaughter a "bloody industry that should have been banned long ago." Shortly thereafter, Canada's Governor General Michaëlle Jean cut open a seal and chowed down on the animal's raw heart, burbling inanely, "It's like sushi." I'm not making that up.
Note to Canada: When your officials are making Vladimir Putin look like the voice of reason and the U.S. Senate appears to be a model of civility, you're doing something wrong.
Let's clear up a couple of myths perpetrated by the Canadian government in defense of the "hunt." The sealing industry is not a subsistence trade for native peoples. The Inuit—most of whom live in the Arctic, far away from the main seal-killing regions of Newfoundland and Labrador—are responsible for only about 3 percent of the annual seal kill.
Nor is the slaughter important to the Canadian economy. In Newfoundland, where the majority of sealers live, revenues from sealing account for just about 1 percent of the province's economy. But even if it were more, that's still no excuse for clubbing babies.
You'd think that officials would have gotten the message that it's time to stop the slaughter when many sealers sat out this year's massacre in the face of plunging demand and record-low ice levels. Incredibly, Fisheries Minister Gail Shea instead increased the killing quotas.
In fact, Canada is spending millions of dollars—and despite what you may have heard, Canadian dollars are real money—on desperate efforts to prop up the dying commercial seal slaughter, including rushing Shea to China to try to peddle seal pelts there and posting a $75,000 contract for a "Social Media Reputation and Online Issues Management" advisor to track seal chatter on the Web.
Not long ago, Canada launched a "Keep Exploring" ad campaign to attract tourists. Vacationers may find it hard to have a really good time with all that shooting and beating going on in the background.
Reacting to the tourism campaign, PETA is pushing back with its own campaign, called, "Explore Elsewhere," encouraging people to leave Canada out of their travel plans until the seal massacre is stopped for good. I've never really been one to call for boycotting an entire country, but in the face of such heartless ineptitude, maybe it's worth considering.
A day in the life of PETA's lovable day tripper involves going here, there, and everywhere, eight days a week, to plead with caring people to come together and stop Canada's shameful seal slaughter.
While en route to Parliament Hill in Ottawa yesterday, our seal was glad all over to pose with members of a Beatles cover band, With the Beatles, who maintain that all you need is love—not clubs, hakapiks, or seal fur.
This year's seal-bashing season concluded earlier this week, but seals in Canada still need your help to ensure the end of the seal slaughter, permanently.
P.S. I've snuck the names of 11 different Beatles tunes (I couldn't resist) into the blog. Which ones can you find?
Good news: Canada's annual commercial seal slaughter ended last night—and more than 80 percent of the seals who had been marked for death were spared this year.
Thanks to a huge PETA push and the hard work of caring people like you, worldwide demand for seal fur is plummeting. We worked to get the European Union to ban the sale of seal products, and the U.S. Senate unanimously passed U.S. Senate Resolution 84, which calls for an end to the annual slaughter. There are few places left for sealers to sell these wretched pelts.
But we must keep up the fight until Canada stops the slaughter altogether, and that means year-round pressure! PETA has big plans to do just that. And you can help by staying active online and in your local community. Let's stop this barbaric massacre forever.
Written by Paula Moore
The Hawaiian word "aloha" means:
If you answered "F," you're correct—and this week the Aloha State welcomed a new law that embodies peace, mercy, love, and affection for seals. Now anyone who intentionally harasses, harms, or kills a Hawaiian monk seal—or any endangered or threatened Hawaiian species—can be charged with a class C felony and face a fine of up to $50,000 and five years in prison.
So, in Hawaii the sight of a seal waddling up the beach draws volunteers to make sure that beachgoers leave the animal in peace. In Canada, the sight of seals lying on ice floes draws hunters to bash their heads in. I'm pretty sure that this is a no-brainer, but I still have to ask: Which destination would you rather visit?
The following post was originially published on PETA Prime.
Just in time for "Adopt a Shelter Cat" Month comes some great news: In an Associated Press-Petside poll, more than half of respondents said that they plan to adopt their next cat or dog from an animal shelter—that's more than seven times the number of people who say they would be likely to purchase an animal from a pet store. And with age comes wisdom, apparently—people over age 30 were the most likely to adopt an animal from a shelter.
The reasons they give are even more heartening. We're apparently getting the word out—with a little help from our friends—that pet shops usually obtain their animals from puppy mills and that these animals often suffer from a variety of physical and mental problems. By contrast, many respondents say that shelter animals, many of whom are mixed breeds, are less likely to suffer from the congenital defects that plague purebreds.
Colton, California, resident Sandra Toro, 62, summed it up nicely: "I believe [pet shops and puppy mills] couldn't care less about the pets, they're really in it for the money. I think you are more likely to get a pet at a pet store that is ill or has problems." Toro, who is the proud guardian of a rescued mutt, went on to say that she doesn't understand how anyone can buy an animal from a pet store or breeder instead of adopting a homeless dog or cat. "There are so many wonderful pets out there that will be euthanized," she said. "There's no reason for it."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves, Sandra!
How about you? Will your next cat (or dog) come from an animal shelter or rescue group?
Written by Alisa Mullins
It's been a whirlwind week for PETA's seal. To keep pressure on Canada to stop letting people shoot baby seals and bash their heads in, PETA's sombrero-sporting seal followed Mexican President Felipe Calderón around to all his stops during his visit to Canada on Thursday.
President Calderón's visit received tons of media attention, and PETA's seal even got a shout-out from Canwest News Service. The seal almost got to shake hands—er, flippers—with President Calderón, but I'm sure that the seal would have preferred to give him a hug, considering that Mexico banned seal imports years ago.
On Monday, PETA's seal was back in action—this time wearing a yarmulke—while tailing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Canada.
What hat will PETA's seal wear next? Stay tuned for updates. And in the meantime, why not let Canadian officials know that the cruel seal slaughter makes you want to blow your top.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
Many Canadians are against their country's annual seal slaughter—the biggest massacre of marine mammals in the world—but the Canadian government has yet to put a stop to it. Not only is the government supporting the barbaric acts of bludgeoning and shooting baby seals, it is also spending taxpayer dollars to do so. Canadians, it's your home and your hard-earned money, and we need you to speak up for seals now.
The Parliament of Canada needs to hear from Canadians who don't want this massacre to go on. Let's keep the ice floes (and Canada's hands) blood-free, shall we? We've created a call log that you can use to ask your members of Parliament to support Senator Mac Harb's bill, which would end the barbaric seal slaughter.
Download the log here and get a "No Fur" pin if you get 10 of your friends, family members, or coworkers to make a brief call. When you've filled out a call log sheet, e-mail a scanned copy to ActionTeam@PETA.org or send it to the address below. Make sure to include your full name, address, and phone number along with the completed call log:
Action Team501 Front St.Norfolk, VA 23510USA
It's easy for the Canadian Parliament to ignore this bloodshed because it doesn't see its country's ice stained red. This is your chance to show Parliament the reality behind the massacre.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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