PETA Protests Internationally Condemned Seal Slaughter

For Immediate Release:
June 30, 2009

Contact:
Ashley Byrne 757-622-7382 

Minneapolis -- Outside the Canadian Consulate in Minneapolis on Wednesday, PETA members will observe Canada's national holiday, Canada Day, by burning a Canadian flag in protest of that country's annual seal massacre. Other PETA members will show video footage of the slaughter to consulate visitors and passersby.

When:   Wednesday, July 1, 12 noon

Where:  Canadian Consulate, 701 Fourth Ave. S. (near S. Seventh Street), Minneapolis

The action is the latest salvo in PETA's campaign--which will continue through the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver--against the annual massacre of Canada's seals. Sealers shoot these gentle animals or bash their heads in, and the babies are often skinned alive while their wailing mothers helplessly watch.

This year, three-fourths of the nearly 300,000 harp seals expected to be killed were spared, in part because the price of seal fur has plummeted as the international outrage against the seal slaughter rises. The European Union and the U.S. have banned seal products, and world leaders--including bear hunter Vladimir Putin--have spoken out against the massacre.

"Canada has ignored calls from around the world to stop the bloody seal slaughter, so we hope that we'll get the government's attention with this dramatic gesture," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "As Canada celebrates its unity, people around the world are uniting to end the bloody annual massacre."

PETA has also called on consumers to boycott Canadian maple syrup in order to pressure the government to stop the seal massacre.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.