Animals

amazing seal update

Original Article Link: The seal showdown begins as MPs vote to promote hunt’s spoils at the Games

Ottawa reacts to Europe’s ban on seal imports

VANCOUVER — Clubbing seals on ice floes is not a Winter Olympics sport, but Canadian parliamentarians have nonetheless voted to spit in the eye of their European counterparts by asking for seal products from the controversial annual hunt to be included on the uniforms of this country’s athletes at the 2010 Games here.

A motion to use the Games to promote seal products passed unanimously in the House of Commons yesterday, as MPs responded to this week’s lopsided vote by the European Parliament to ban the import of seal products.

In particular, the motion put forward by Bloc Québécois member Raynald Blais, who represents the Magdalen Islands where many residents participate in the hunt, calls for seal skin to be part of the official uniforms worn by Canada’s Olympians.

The proposal was quickly shot down by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), which reminded MPs that the Olympics are not to be used as a platform for special causes. Besides, Canada’s official uniforms for the Olympics have already been designed, approved by the International Olympic Committee and are currently in production, their look and style a closely guarded secret.

But one of the hunt’s most implacable foes, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), welcomed the MPs’ motion with open arms.

“We feel it’s perfect because it shows how completely out of touch the Canadian government is with the rest of the world,” said PETA spokeswoman Kristie Phelps. “It would be extremely appropriate for Canada’s Olympic uniform to wear the country’s heartlessness right on its sleeve.”

PETA, meanwhile, is planning its own use of the Winter Games as a staging ground, vowing to protest the bloody harvest of seals at every stop along the cross-country Olympic torch relay.

“All eyes are on Canada as they prepare to host the Olympics, and we hope to use this extra attention to put an end to the slaughter,” Ms. Phelps said.

“Canada is not popular around the world because of it, and we are going to make the country and the Olympics a target.”

COC boss Chris Rudge said he wasn’t surprised by the House of Commons motion to promote seal products at the 2010 Olympics.

Trying to co-opt the Games for social and political purposes has a long history, he said, but the Olympic Charter prohibits national committees from speaking out on such issues during the Olympics.

“If we agreed [to the motion], we would be in violation of that rule, and we won’t be doing that,” he said. “We will not be putting skin or other seal products on our uniforms.”

Canada’s seal hunt has long been unpopular in Europe. Photos and videos of young seals being clubbed and skinned on the blood-spattered ice are a staple of the ongoing campaign there to end the annual harvest, the largest of its kind in the world. Russia recently halted its killing of harp seals, after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called the hunt a “bloody industry.”

The EU ban, if approved as expected by member countries, would apply to all seal products and processed goods, including skins for fur coats, meat, oil blubber, organs and Omega 3 pills.

Canada has strongly condemned the move, arguing that the seal hunt is humane and poses no danger to the seal population. The federal government says it intends to challenge the restriction at the World Trade Organization.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said she liked the idea of adding seal to Canada’s Olympic outfits. “I think it would be a good statement for the Canadian sealing industry, and Canada’s support of it.”

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said Canada has not been aggressive enough in fighting the public-relations war in Europe, and using the Olympics might help.

When a reporter suggested athletes might not like being forced to wear …

Animals

Anderson Asks Putin for Help in Seal Slaughter Ban

original article link PAMELA ANDERSON has written a personal plea to Russian leader VLADIMIR PUTIN, asking the Prime Minister to help her ban the slaughter of baby seals in her native Canada.
Putin was recently applauded by animal lovers all over the world for overseeing a ban on the hunting of young harp seals, and now Anderson has asked him to urge Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to follow his lead.

Anderson, a longtime animal rights activist and PETA spokesperson, claims the Canadian government will allow seal hunters to brutally beat and skin approximately 338,200 seals this year.

In her letter to Putin, obtained by WENN via PETA, she writes, “The Canadian government has refused to budge on this issue, despite widespread protests and international bans on the trade in baby seal skins.

“I collected thousands of signatures myself and personally delivered the petition to parliament, to no avail. The government is sacrificing not only the seals but also worldwide goodwill by going against the wishes of most Canadians, Europeans, Russians, and others.

“You have been quoted as saying that seal hunting is ‘a bloody industry that should have been banned long ago’. I couldn’t agree more. Please use your influence with Prime Minister Harper to help us stop the senseless slaughter of baby seals once and for all.”

Animals, Diary

We need help on 4/15 - New spay/neuter bill in Sacramento

“Each year, over $250 million dollars is spent housing and euthanizing homeless dogs and cats in California. Approximately 1 million dogs and cats enter California’s shelters each year, and over half of them are euthanized (killed) simply because there are not enough homes. SB 250, if passed, will be a step in the right direction toward reducing pet overpopulation and saving hundreds and thousands of pets. We need everyone’s support. For more info on how you can help, visit www.yesonsb250.com.”

Animals

Obama letter slams ‘inhumane’ seal hunt

Another reason I Love Obama!
Please see letter

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/616257

Obama letter slams ‘inhumane’ seal hunt
MITCH POTTER
WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Barack Obama sees the Canadian seal hunt as “inhumane” and vowed to express his “outrage” during his days as a senator, it was revealed today.
Obama, who has not spoken publicly about the seal hunt since becoming President, vowed in a 2006 letter to animal-rights activists to work with colleagues “to ensure that we take all the necessary steps to express our outrage” with the Canadian government.
“I share your concerns about the Canadian seal hunt,” Obama wrote to a member of People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, in the letter, dated April 13, 2006.
“As you know, Canada annually opens its eastern waters to commercial seal hunting. The United States and European Union have been unified in their opposition to the slaughter of seals by passing legislation decades ago to restrict the sale of seal-based products within their borders,” Obama wrote.
“I certainly believe in the spirit of these acts; the U.S. should not condone this recent Canadian action.”
A PETA official said Obama’s 2006 letter was “recently rediscovered in the files of a member who keeps very good records of our correspondence with the U.S. government.”
The letter was released publicly today as part of a renewed PETA campaign that requests Obama renew his commitment to ending the Canadian seal hunt.
“The rediscovery of this letter came as a surprise. But we are not totally shocked by what Obama said because so far he has been very responsive on animal rights,” said Dan Mathews, senior vice-president of PETA.
“But there is obviously an opportunity now for Obama to use his good office to renew and fulfill this pledge. We are anxious to hear a response from the White House.”
Officials in Washington and Ottawa have yet to comment on the letter.

Animals

Pamela Anderson Tries to Help Florida Chimps

On Saturday Pamela Anderson appeared at a fundraiser and 20th anniversary for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. Prior to her appearance, she had written to the governor of Florida on behalf of chimps there held in roadside ‘zoos’ for tourists.

In her statement she said, “PETA and I appeal to you to take action to prevent Florida’s roadside zoos from keeping great apes, and to ensure that these intelligent primates are transferred to approved sanctuaries to live out the remainder of their lives in suitable surroundings.” Anderson has worked for a number of years with PETA to raise awareness about animal cruelty.

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Animals

Canadian Justice is a Wonderful Thing

In Canada if you take a picture of a seal being killed you are arrested, jailed and fined and the maximum penalty if convicted is up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. In addition when we documented the seal slaughter last year, our ship Farley Mowat was seized and is still being held by the Canadian government without any charges against it. Two of our officers Alex Cornelissen and Peter Hammarstedt were released on $5,000 bail each for the “crime” of witnessing the killing of a seal. The actual charge was violating the “Seal Protection Regulations” which makes it illegal to witness or document the killing of a seal without a permit from the government.

This week a sealer was found guilty of inhumanely killing a seal. Ashley Gould, 27, of Anchor Point, Newfoundland was videotaped smashing baby seals with a shovel and throwing them on to the boat while still alive.

What did the “Seal Protection Act” have to say about that? Mr. Gould was found guilty of using unauthorized weapons. The punishment for bashing baby seals over the head with a shovel and throwing their living bodies onto the deck of a boat is a $2,000 fine and Mr. Gould will be suspended for the 1st day of the 2009 seal hunt.

A fine of $100,000 and up to a year in prison for taking a picture of a seal being killed and a $2,000 fine for bashing it over the head with a shovel.

They say that justice is blind. In Canada justice has her eyes wide shut and she’s arrogantly moronic and very sick.

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Animals, news

This November 4, Californians should vote YES! on Prop 2

www.yesonprop2.com

Animals

PETA Undercover Investigations

Animals, Webisodes

Webisode: PETA Involvement

Animals, news, press

‘Kentucky Fried Cruelty’ comes to an end

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2008/06/01/5739946.html

‘Kentucky Fried Cruelty’ comes to an end
Vegan `chicken’ on menu as KFC Canada pledges better animal welfare to end protest

By COLIN PERKEL, The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Following a five-year roasting by animal-rights activists, KFC Canada is promising improved welfare for the chickens it buys for its fast-food outlets in exchange for an end to a boycott campaign that will continue in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The Canadian Press has learned that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has agreed to call off its Canadian “Kentucky Fried Cruelty� campaign, which featured high-profile actress Pamela Anderson among others, following a signed agreement with the company.

Among other things, the deal obliges KFC Canada to begin buying from suppliers who use gas to kill their chickens painlessly, considered to be the least cruel method of slaughter.

The company is also promising to insist on other “animal-welfare friendly� measures relating to how the birds are kept, including a maximum on crowding and phasing out non-essential growth-hormones and other drugs.

Customers of the popular restaurant chain will also be able to order a vegan “chicken� item, according to the deal that followed almost seven months of at-times “sticky� closed-door negotiations.

“It’s going to drastically reduce the suffering of chickens in slaughterhouses and also . . . improve the living conditions for animals while they’re on the farm,� Matt Prescott, PETA’s assistant director of corporate affairs, said from Norfolk, Va.

KFC Canada President Steve Langford said he was delighted with the agreement.

“It will be nice to put this behind us,� Langford said. “Our preference is to have nothing negative attached to our brand.�

Langford said the Canadian operations, which are independent of those in the U.S., had chosen to take the situation into its own hands and talk to PETA about animal welfare.

“Once I got involved and we actually met face to face, we found out that we had no differences of opinion about how animals should be treated,� Langford said.

“We landed in a very good place.�

PETA’s campaign, which garnered international attention, has included more than 12,000 protests at KFC restaurants and outside the homes of company senior executives.

Demonstrators, who have included former “Playboy� pinup Lauren Anderson, have burned effigies of company icon, Col. Sanders. Other notables such as Paul McCartney, the Dalai Lama, and Chrissie Hynde have participated in the campaign.

KFC Canada was also thrown on the defensive three years ago when PETA released horrific video showing poultry workers torturing chickens in the United States.

The company is owned by Priszm Income Fund, based in Vaughan, Ont., which operates 465 outlets across the country. The fund has been struggling to stem a flow of red ink and shore up falling share values.

Most of the 300 independent franchisees have agreed to abide by the agreement with PETA.

“It appears as though our campaign affected the bottom line to the point where the company finally had enough,� Prescott said.

“That said, I also believe that KFC in Canada is genuinely concerned about animal welfare.�

While the anti-KFC campaign will now end in this country, PETA said it would continue in the U.S., the U.K. and other countries. However, it is hoping to persuade Yum Brands, which owns KFC outlets in the United States, to follow the Canadian lead.

“With KFC Canada now doing exactly what we want KFC in the U.S. to do, our members and activists will be even more energetic and invigorated about going after KFC in other countries,� Prescott said.

“All we want is for KFC worldwide to do what KFC Canada has done.�