Obama ‘Outraged’ Over Seal Slaughter

In 2006, when Barack Obama was an Illinois Senator, he wrote a letter to a group of constituents to thank them for their support of a resolution against the Canadian seal slaughter. He assured them that he would use his seat in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to support the resolution.

“But Amanda,” you may be thinking, “what does a three-year-old resolution have to do with the price of tofu?”

The resolution, S. Res. 33, wasn’t just any old resolution. In no uncertain language, it listed a number of reasons why the “cruel and needless” Canadian seal slaughter is “inconsistent with the well-earned international reputation of Canada” and urged the Canadian government to “end the commercial hunt on seals.”

In his letter, then-Senator Obama wrote that “the United States should not condone” the slaughter, and vowed, “As a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, I will work with my colleagues to ensure that we take the necessary steps to express our outrage with this inhumane measure“.

We applaud Obama for taking such a strong stand—and now, PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews has written a letter to President Obama asking him to express that same passion now, as president, in an appeal to the Canadian government to stop the seal slaughter.

If you share Obama’s outrage, please lend your voice here.

Written by Amanda Schinke