Travel Article Should not Glorify Killing

Trapping wild animals like this marmot for the fur trade is simply barbaric!

Glorifying fur trapping is barbaric. Few would expect, therefore, to find an article in a travel magazine that does just that. AFAR Magazine recently published a story on Quebec City by travel journalist Jennifer Kahn in which she glorifies fur trapping and marvels at pelts from beavers, wolves, ermines, and lynx.

Millions of animals are trapped and killed each year for their skins and fur—animals sacrificed so their bodies can be used as fashion statements. No animal should be sacrificed for fashion.

Trappers use one of three types of traps: the most popular is the steel-jaw leghold trap, but the Conibear® and snare traps are also used. Not one of these trapping methods is considered humane; not one of them instantly kills the trapped animal; and not one of these traps should still be used in today’s society. Animals caught in any of these traps are ensnared in excruciating pain until the trapper returns to bludgeon, suffocate, or shoot the animal before skinning him or her.

Hours could pass, or days, or sometimes even weeks before a trapper returns to check the traps. Many times, the entangled animals die from exposure to extreme weather, predation, or starvation. Desperate, panicking animals have been known to break bones, including legs, backs, and necks trying to escape. Some—particularly mothers—attempt to chew off their legs in an attempt to return home to their babies.

Please send a polite note to the magazine expressing your concern about their carrying a story that glorifies the killing of animals for fashion. Suggest, instead, they carry stories of wild animals in their natural setting as that is the humane way to enjoy the coats of beavers, wolves, ermines, lynx, and other fur-bearing animals.

Ellen Asmodeo-Giglio, Executive Vice President
Bryan Kinkade, Vice President
AFAR Magazine
25 W. 45th St, Suite 1208
New York, NY 10036
Tele. No.: 646-430-9880
Fax: 212-382-3559
E-mail: ellen@afar.com
E-mail: bryan@afar.com

Bluefin Tuna Need Protection

The giant schools of tuna that once populated the oceans are rapidly disappearing

Threatened by climate change, overfishing, and pollution, bluefin tuna need protection in order to recover to healthy levels. Write the Canadian ministers of Environment and Fisheries and Oceans requesting they act now to protect bluefin tuna under the Species at Risk Act. Any delay further compromises the integrity of this long-lived giant ocean predator.

The Honourable Peter Kent
Minister of the Environment
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
10 Wellington Street, 28th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0H3
Canada

The Honourable Keith Ashfield
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
200 Kent Street
13th Floor, Station 13E228
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E6
Canada

Will Canada end seal hunting?

Seal clubbing is anathema to a humane and civilized people.

Canada has the opportunity to end commercial seal slaughter today. Canadian senator Mac Harb has introduced S 210, an Act to Amend the Fisheries Act (commercial seal fishing). This bill would disallow the issuance of commercial licenses for seal fishing except for those issued to aboriginal organizations or to persons who have a claims agreement.

With markets declining in both Europe and Russia, the price of seal pelts has decreased and the commercial industry is worth only a fraction of what it once was. While those are economic reasons for ending the commercial slaughter of Canadian seals, the humane reasons should not be overlooked. Thousands of baby seals are clubbed to death annually. Such slaughter should never be condoned. Hunting, for other than subsistence reasons , is anathema to a humane and civilized people.

Canadian citizens, please contact you legislators and let them know you support Senator Harb’s bill, S 210. Readers not in Canada should also contact legislators to make them aware that anti-seal hunting sentiments are worldwide.

Elephants to Find New Home

Elephants do not deserve to be in captivity.

Paws Up!

To the Calgary Zoo for announcing plans to relocate its endangered Asian elephants.

According to a news story, “Zoo President Dr. Clement Lanthier says ‘The decision is all about animal welfare.’ ‘It was based on a growing acceptance and understanding of the importance of the social structure in elephant herds and the knowledge that their welfare is better served by being part of a large social group.’”

NHES opposes zoo elephant exhibits in which the elephants have insufficient space for roaming and foraging since elephants typically roam 10 miles a day over ranges measuring hundreds of square miles. In addition, some exhibits have elephants residing on hard ground and cement surfaces, contributing substantially to painful foot and leg ailments. Foot disease is a common cause of death in captive elephants. Elephants in some exhibits endure conditions that induce psychological and emotional suffering; for instance, living in isolation for extended periods of time. They suffer from the inability to partake in natural behaviors, like forming family groups and may develop stereotypies, such as swaying or patterned walking, which are considered symptoms of psychological distress. Frequently, elephants are forced to live in climates that do not replicate their natural environment, causing them additional undue stress.

Take action: Canadian residents, please send a note of thanks to the president of the Calgary Zoo. If a zoo in your community has an elephant exhibit which limits the elephants in enjoying their true nature, contact the director and let him or her know of your desire to see the elephants moved to an appropriate sanctuary.

Dr. Clement Lanthier
President
Calgary Zoo, Botanical Garden & Prehistoric Park
1300 Zoo Road NE
Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2E 7V6

Source:
The Calgary Herald

Save the Seals

Help save this seal.

The annual Canadian seal hunt is set to begin in a few weeks. Maybe this year, Canadian officials will speak out in protest and begin the process of banning this brutal activity, which causes suffering of innocent animals.

Not only do the dying suffer the brutal actions of seal hunters but baby seals not clubbed to death often starve when their mothers are killed. Also, according to investigating animal welfare groups, many baby and adult seals are not killed instantaneously by hunters; these animals are then typically beaten repeatedly or are skinned alive.

Urge the Canadian government to end seal hunts and work to find more viable and humane sources of income for the country. By banning these hunts, these officials will be demonstrating their compassion, which will serve as a testament to their concern for the well-being of wildlife. In addition, such an action will go far in fostering a public understanding and respect for wildlife in general.

The Honorable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Canada
Fax: 613-941-6900
E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca

Canada Institutions Save Lives

Paws Up!

To two Canadian universities that have agreed to stop using live animals in trauma medicine training courses.

The University of Sherbrooke in Quebec and the Sacre Coeur Hospital in Montreal have curtailed the use of live animals in trauma medicine training courses. Now that these two institutions joining others in Canada that have done likewise, according to a news article, “…none of the 22 Canadian universities and hospitals that offer the Advanced Trauma Life Support program uses animals any longer….”

Photo by amber10_79/Flickr

NHES looks forward to the day when animals will no longer be subjected to the pain and suffering associated with biomedical research and testing, which is often unnecessary and costly when compared with other non-animal techniques. Therefore, we are delighted to learn that these two institutions have stopped using live animals in trauma medicine training courses.

Take Action: Canadian residents, please take a moment to thank these two institutions for their decisions to protect animals.

Dr. Pierre Cossette
Dean, Medical School
University of Sherbrooke
2500 Boulevard de l’Université Sherbrooke,
QC J1K 2R1
Canada

Dr. Francois Madore
Acting Director of Research
Sacre Coeur Hospital
5400 Boulevard Gouin Ouest
Montreal, QC H4J1C5
Canada

Sources:
National Post
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Don’t Turn Spirit Bears into Ghost Bears

Photo by beingmyself/Flickr

The Enbridge Corporation is seeking approval to build the Northern Gateway pipeline through British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, endangering its spectacular Spirit Bear Coast. If such a pipeline is built, the remaining 400 spirit bears, one of North America’s greatest wildlife treasures, will be endangered even further.

No one can guarantee there will be no oil spill, not even the CEO of Enbridge, according to his interview with the Battle Creek Enquirer : “Well, to assure that [an oil spill]it will never happen again, no. And I doubt that anyone with responsibility for any process can ever guarantee that there will never be another problem.”

After the Enbridge spill in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, it appears inevitable that a spill will occur on the Gateway project, causing irreparable damage this sensitive ecosystem.

Take Action: Contact the president and CEO of Enbridge urging his corporation to drop plans for the Northern Gateway pipeline. In addition, write the Premier of British Columbia, urging her government to protect the Great Bear Rainforest by rejecting Enbridge’s plan.

Photo by MarinePhotoBank/Flickr

Patrick Daniel, President and CEO
Enbridge, Inc.
3000 Fifth Avenue Place
425 – 1st Street S.W.
Calgary, Alberta
T2P 3L8 Canada
Telephone: 403-231-3900
Fax: 403-231-3920
E-mail: jennifer.varey@enbridge.com

The Honourable Christy Clark
Premier
British Columbia
c/o Correspondence Branch
PO Box 9041 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC
V8W9E1
Canada
Tele. No.: 250-387-2160
Fax: 250-356-1385
E-mail: premier@gov.bc.ca

Death of Sled Dogs Changes Laws

Paws Up!
To British Columbia for enacting the toughest animal cruelty penalties in Canada.

According to a news source, “What has been described as ‘the toughest animal cruelty laws in all of Canada’ by provincial Minister of Agriculture Don McRae are now law in British Columbia.”

Photo by Heather Morrison

“The amendments include increased penalties for animal cruelty to fines up to $75,000 and jail terms of up to two years; extending the current six-month limitation period for prosecuting offences to three years; and providing new ability for the government to set standards pertaining to the use, care and protection of animals, including sled dogs.”

The genesis of this law came about following the April 2010 slaughter of 100 sled dogs.

Take Action: Write a letter thanking the Minister of Agriculture for pursuing stiffer penalties for animal cruelty in his province.

The Honorable Don McRae
Minister of Agriculture
PO Box 9043, Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
Canada

Source:
news.gov.bc.ca/

Canada, Don’t Sell Seals to China

Photo by Mike Spindler

NHES is distressed that despite worldwide protest and lack of demand, thousands of Canadian seals are still brutally killed each year. In 2009, the European Union voted to no longer sell seal products and the United States called for the immediate end to seal slaughter in Canada. However, instead of listening to the demands of Europe and the United States, Canada has chosen to continue this slaughter and instead market seal goods to China. As Europeans and Americans educated themselves on seal slaughter, many Chinese have as well and may indeed protest this decision. Please send the prime minister of Canada a polite note letting him know you disapprove of Canada’s decision to sell seal products to China.

The Honorable Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Canada

Foie Gras Falling out of Favor

Paws Up!
To the National Capital Commission for removing foie gras from the menu at the Taste of Winterlude event in Ottawa and to the Aramark Corporation for no longer distributing foie gras.

The force feeding of geese and ducks to produce diseased livers, which are then harvested and turned into what is considered a delicacy in some circles, has come to an end in other circles.

Photo by forester357

Recently, the National Capital Commission informed chefs participating in its upcoming Taste of Winterlude foie gras could not be on their menus. Only one chef has withdrawn his participation, not wanting to alter his recipes, even though there is a vegetarian substitute for foie gras.

The Aramark Corporation, one of the world’s leading food service providers, has decided it will no longer distribute foie gras after executives of the corporation were shown video of ducks and geese being force fed.

Great Britain, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Israel, Turkey, and Argentina, among other countries, have banned the production of foie gras within their borders. Some U.S. states have partial bans.

Take Action: Write letters of thanks to the National Capital Commission and the Aramark Corporation for their stand against foie gras.

Marie Lemay, Chief Executive Officer
National Capital Commission
202–40 Elgin Street
Ottawa ON K1P 1C7
Canada
E-mail: info@ncc-ccn.ca

~

Joseph Neubauer

 

 

 

 

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The Aramark Corporation
1101 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tele.: 800-ARAMARK

Source:
www.ctv.ca/
food-management.com/