Urge the Olympic Committee to Help End the Canadian Seal Slaughter

PETA is calling on the Olympic Organizing Committee to help stop Canada's annual seal massacre. PETA's_Olympic_Spoof_Logo

All eyes are on Canada as it prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. This extra attention will bring increased scrutiny and comes with the added responsibility of setting a positive example for the world. That's why we are calling on the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee to help stop the Canadian seal slaughter.

During Canada's annual war on seals, hundreds of thousands of seals are killed for their skin in the most horrific ways imaginable. Seals stand no chance against club-wielding trappers who are after their fur, and they must look on as fellow pups are bludgeoned to death before meeting the same bloody fate.

These seals, many of whom are only weeks old when they're barbarically killed, have their skulls smashed in or are shot point-blank by hunters who are driven by profit and greed. The anguish that a mother seal feels as she watches her baby being beaten to death just a few feet away from her is horrifying and can be heard in her desperate cries and seen in her attempts to get to her baby.

Last year, more than 205,000 individual seals were killed during the massacre, which is nothing more than a money-making scheme orchestrated by professional fishers, and Canada will soon begin its annual merciless attack on seals for their fur. We need you to speak up for seals now and demand a permanent end to the cruel seal slaughter.

Please write to the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee and demand that they help bring an immediate end to the seal slaughter.

Food that feeds the body and soul is my number one passion, but showing humanity to all creatures is something that I hold just as dear. That's why I've teamed up with The Humane Society of the United States to help end the cruel Canadian commercial seal hunt.

I'm heartbroken: In the last four years, more than one million seal pups have been killed -- clubbed, shot, and even skinned alive on Canada's ice floes -- in the largest marine mammal slaughter on Earth. And it's all in the name of fur fashion.

Like you, I'm committed to ending this senseless slaughter by sending a message to the fishermen who kill the seals for a little extra cash and the seafood industry that supports the hunt. That's why I have pledged to stop cooking with Canadian seafood until the hunt is ended.

You've previously signed the pledge (thank you!), and your actions continue to be a driving force behind the movement to ban the hunt.

Here's what you can do right now to help us achieve this year's goal: Take the challenge with me -- tell all your friends and family and help us reach one million signatures. We're not far off -- your signature is one of more than 630,000, and if everyone who receives this letter tells 5 friends, we'll reach one million signatures.

If you're one of the top signature gatherers, not only will you send the Canadian fishing industry a powerful message, but you'll also will win some fabulous prizes:*

* Grand Prize: A trip to New York City to meet with me -- plus you'll get a harp seal pup photograph taken by famed photographer Nigel Barker
* 10 Runners Up: A ProtectSeals shirt and Nigel Barker poster

Thanks to you, we're closer than ever before to ending the hunt -- more than 5,000 grocery stores and restaurants have signed the pledge, and soon the European Union will vote on whether to ban its trade in seal products. That would mean a primary market for seal skins would be shut down, saving millions of seals worldwide from a horrible fate.

I know you'll keep the pressure on Canada's fishing industry as long as it takes to stop the slaughter. The more signatures, the bigger the message -- and the greater your odds of winning. Pass the pledge on now, and we can end Canada's commercial seal hunt.

As a public figure, I know that my involvement can have a big impact. Still, I'm just one person -- but if I have one million of you with me, we can end the slaughter once and for all.


Sincerely,
Cat Cora
Iron Chef, executive chef for Bon Appétit magazine,
and founder of Chefs for Humanity