Oh, sweet irony: Just weeks after Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail Shea gave the green light for sealers to kill an additional 50,000 seals, officials have announced that they will likely have to call off this year's massacre early because of a lack of buyers for seal fur! All that hard work by friends of seals is finally paying off.
PETA U.K. worked to push the European Union to ban products made from seals, and that ban, combined with the ever-increasing number of people who refuse to buy real fur, has dealt a crushing blow to the seal-fur industry. According to one sealer, "[T]here's no market for seal pelts this year." And according to one estimate, fewer than 15 percent of the projected number of seals will be bludgeoned to death this year!
© The Humane Society of the United States
Is the last gong sounding? Will Canadian officials stop the cruel and senseless seal slaughter forever? Let's keep the pressure on by writing to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and demanding that he put an end to this dying event once and for all.
Celebrities Overheard:
From world leaders to reality stars, celebrities from around the world are speaking out against the slaughter of baby seal
President Barack Obama
"The United States and the 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. … 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."
As a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 2006
"The United States and the 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. … 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."
As a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 2006
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
"[The seal slaughter is] such a bloody hunt, and it is clear that it should have been banned a long time ago."
"[The seal slaughter is] such a bloody hunt, and it is clear that it should have been banned a long time ago."
Sir Paul McCartney
"Canada is known as a great nation. … But this is something that leaves a stain on the character of the Canadian people and we don't think that's right. I don't think the vast amount of Canadians think that's right."
"Canada is known as a great nation. … But this is something that leaves a stain on the character of the Canadian people and we don't think that's right. I don't think the vast amount of Canadians think that's right."
Sarah McLachlan
"The commercial sealing industry in Canada is perverse and sick. … They club these seals as early as 12 days old, and half the time they hook them and they drag them across the ice. … It's archaic, and it's horrible, and I want it to stop."
"The commercial sealing industry in Canada is perverse and sick. … They club these seals as early as 12 days old, and half the time they hook them and they drag them across the ice. … It's archaic, and it's horrible, and I want it to stop."
View more at http://canadasshame.com/Celeb.aspx
The annual seal slaughter will continue unless people like you speak out and take action to stop it, so please add your voice to the global outcry against Canada's shameful seal massacre. Please write to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Canadian ambassadors around the world to demand that they bring the massacre to an immediate end. Click here for more information.
!!! HELP VIA Twitter!!!
Be a Sweetie: Tweet for Seals!
Tweeps, we need your help! USA Today has announced that it will donate a full-page ad (a $189,400 value) to the nonprofit organization that garners the most tweets on Twitter. If PETA wins, we will use the ad to call for an end to Canada's annual seal slaughter, which is happening right now and may result in some 388,200 seals being bludgeoned and killed on the ice this year. Imagine if just one tweet could save one seal.
The contest ends on Friday, April 16, so please tweet, retweet, and post our tweet on your Facebook pages ASAP. Just be sure to include "#AmericaWants @PETA to get a full-page ad in USA TODAY" in your tweet so your vote will count. If you haven't yet joined the "flock," please sign up for a Twitter account now so that you can make your voice heard. A tweet for PETA is a tweet for seals!
