Written by Jeff Mackey
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.
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.
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.
Written by Michelle Kretzer
Canada has tried every trick in the book to get around the European Union's ban on seal fur. But it isn't having much luck.
The most recent ruse was to try to convince the General Court of the European Union to overturn the ban on the grounds that it hurt the Inuit people's livelihood—even though the EU ban makes a very clear exemption for the Inuit, who kill a tiny fraction of seals in Canada.
The group that brought the court case was led by the Fur Institute of Canada. As the case progressed, the group also used a number of deceptive tactics to try to rope PETA into weighing in on the Inuit's actions in a thinly veiled bid to try to make us say something inflammatory that it could use to bolster its weak court case. Among other things, it pretended to be documentarians and reporters, requested PETA speakers at schools, and directly contacted some of our volunteers. But we didn't want to jeopardize this historic ruling, so we kept mum. That's not easy for PETA to do, but it paid off!
This recent court victory may also help the World Trade Organization (WTO) as it considers yet another challenge that Canada has brought against the EU ban. The WTO will have its final hearing on the case in a few days and will return a decision soon afterward. But compassionate people around the world, including Jude Law and Pamela Anderson, are urging the WTO to honor Europeans' wishes and uphold the ban.
Perhaps instead of spending millions of dollars to prop up the fading sealing industry and millions more trying to force countries to resume buying cruel products that they obviously don't want, Canada should devise a practical exit strategy: a government buyout.
Here's how you can help.
Written by Alisa Mullins
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.
© StarMaxInc.com
I'm writing to urge the panel to uphold this ban, which is in line with the wishes of compassionate people all around the world, including the majority of European citizens," wrote Law in his letter to the WTO. "Even local sentiment is turning, and a lack of markets has led Canadian officials to seriously examine whether the slaughter should end.
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.
As Canada's bloody annual seal massacre approaches again this spring, the at-risk animals can always count on their country's own superhero for animals, Pamela Anderson. The bombshell from British Columbia has submitted an appeal on behalf of PETA urging the World Trade Organization (WTO) to uphold the European Union's (EU) ban on seal-fur imports.
The WTO's public hearings on trade arising from the cruel seal slaughter begin in Geneva on February 18. All major markets have banned seal-pelt imports, including the EU, the U.S., Taiwan, Mexico, and most recently Russia, which had been importing 95 percent of the Canadian sealskins, marking one of the biggest victories in the history of animal rights!
Please help Pam and PETA save seals from being bludgeoned and skinned alive for their fur—urge Canada's leaders to support Sen. Mac Harb's bill to end the commercial seal massacre today!
When Russia banned the import of all harp-seal products from Canada, it wasn't because lawmakers thought that they would get flowers from Pamela Anderson if they did so. But that's certainly not a bad perk.
© Taylor Hill
Pamela found herself in a new role as diplomat this week when she joined PETA Vice President Dan Mathews at the Russian Consulate in New York City, where they met with trade officials to bolster Russia's ban on seal fur from Pamela's native Canada.
"We are very proud that our country joined the U.S., the European Union, and Mexico in refusing to support the shooting and bludgeoning of baby harp seals," said Russia's Deputy Trade Representative Timofey S. Borodin, who along with Senior Consul Sergey Logachev, accepted a bouquet of pink roses from Pamela as thanks for their country's legislation.
Pamela had led an international appeal on PETA's behalf to urge the country to stop supporting the barbaric killing of seals in her native Canada, and it took just one year for Russia to pass the ban. And since Russia had been importing 95 percent of the seal pelts that Canada sold, well, it isn't hard to see what that did to the market for seal fur.
The slaughter suffered another blow when Canadian Sen. Mac Harb introduced legislation to end it. You can help seals by e-mailing Canadian lawmakers and asking them to support this momentous bill.
Eight trainers at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario, have handed in their resignations and are speaking out to the Toronto Star about the cruel and abusive conditions at the marine animal prison, which PETA has been after for years.
Because they were made to sign nondisclosure agreements about what goes on behind the scenes at the park, many of the trainers asked not to be identified by name. But former trainer Phil Demers, who quit the park after 12 years, gave a daring on-camera interview describing the abuse he witnessed:
(Video courtesy of thestar.com)
PETA has had our sights on Marineland for some time, writing letters to Canadian officials and asking them to take action to improve conditions at the park.
Now, Marineland owner John Holer's own trainers are accusing the park of cruelty to animals, including the following:
When questioned about the insufficient staff, dirty water, and untimely death of a baby beluga, Marineland owner John Holer offered this chilling answer: "[F]or people and all living things, there is a time to live and a time to die."
Perhaps his cavalier attitude explains the more than 40 whale and dolphin deaths at Marineland since the park's inception. The park, along with fellow marine animal prison SeaWorld, earned a spot on PETA's list of deadly destinations, a register of places that anyone who cares about animals should avoid like the plague.
Please voice your objections about the lack of adequate laws to protect captive animals to Premier Dalton McGuinty:
The Honourable Dalton McGuinty
Premier of Ontario Rm. 281, Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A4 416-325-7578 (fax)
As PETA pal Bill Maher prepares to perform in Alberta and British Columbia, he's proved that he's a stand-up guy in a different sense by sending a letter to Bob Rae, leader of Canada's Liberal Party, urging him to support Sen. Mac Harb's bill to end the commercial seal slaughter.
Photo courtesy of Bill Maher
Bill joins celebrities, including Pamela Anderson, Pink, Olivia Munn, Russell Simmons, Tommy Lee, Alicia Silverstone, Dave Navarro, Joanna Krupa, Megan Park, and many others, who have voiced their support for the momentous bill and encouraged their fans to do the same.
Bill has been a vocal opponent of the annual seal massacre, and his letter comes just weeks after the Senate agreed to continue the debate. Many appeals have already been made to the conservatives, who hold a majority, so Bill chose to address the Liberal Party, mentioning that he hadn't expected much from the conservatives but that he "had hoped for more" from the liberals.
© Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Be like Bill—compassionate Canadians can contact their senators directly, but no matter where you're from, please urge Canada's leaders to support Sen. Harb's bill today.
It's not over yet, but Iggy Pop, Perez Hilton, Kelly Osbourne, Pamela Anderson, Sarah McLachlan, Diane Warren, and all the people who have spoken out, worn the PETA shirts, and appeared in our ads in the last year have brought us closer to the end of the Canadian seal slaughter. Just weeks before the annual slaughter is set to resume, Ryan Cleary, a member of the Canadian Parliament who represents one of the regions in which the seal slaughter takes place, has acknowledged that the tremendous outcry against beating and shooting baby seals has him questioning the future of the bloody massacre. Says Mr. Cleary: "Part of our history is also whaling, for example, and the day came when the whaling industry stopped. Now, is that day coming with the seal hunt? It just may be."
Cleary's statement comes just weeks after Russia announced that it was taking steps to ban the import of Canadian harp-seal fur, a move that came after Pamela Anderson led an international appeal on PETA's behalf.
Polls have consistently shown that most Canadians oppose the seal slaughter, and as Cleary noted, the industry is an increasing liability for Canada that the country is having more and more difficulty defending.
Please click here to tell Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper that yes, the time has come to send the seal slaughter the way of whale slaughter and ban it before the next massacre commences this spring.
PETA U.K. is lambasting the judge who let convicted thief Jack Taylor out of serving jail time so that he would be free to kill baby seals and sheep.
Taylor admitted to stealing a motorcycle because he thought there were drugs under the bike's saddle. But instead of throwing the self-confessed burglar into the slammer to ponder his crime, the judge sentenced Taylor to a mere 100 hours of community service so that he could return to his two jobs: slaughtering sheep in Norway and traveling to North America seasonally to beat baby seals to death.
PETA U.K. blasted the sentence, saying, "Imagining that criminals might reform their deviant, anti-social behaviour by bludgeoning baby seals to death is not only delusional but also downright dangerous."
It is not surprising that a career animal abuser appears to be headed for a life of crime. What is surprising is that the judge apparently ignored the fact that there is a strong link between violence against animals and violence against people and that Taylor's crimes could very well escalate. Only by taking cruelty to animals seriously—reporting it when it is illegal and protesting it when it isn't—can we hope to quell the incidence of crimes against people.
It sounds like the plot of a Disney movie, but this video of a pig and dog who are best buds would warm even Walt's cryogenically frozen heart.
"Don't mind me." After committing the most adorable case of breaking and entering ever, a baby seal curled up on a New Zealand woman's couch for a nap.
Can you do a good "fish face"? These people are spot-on. … Or are the fish doing a spot-on "human face"?
Would you like an awkward conversation about the facts of life with that? A 7-year-old girl and her mother allegedly discovered a condom in the child's McDonald's Happy Meal.
Talk about a return on your investment: Eight years after she went missing, a dog is going home to her family, thanks to a tiny, inexpensive microchip.
And a chicken named Liberty, dubbed Britain's "last battery hen" is headed home too. She will enjoy retirement on a farm with other hens who were formerly confined to battery cages as the U.K.'s ban on the cruel confinement system goes into effect for the new year.
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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