AR-News: Seal Slaughter Sample Letters: Prada/ Canada

Tue May 18 16:27:16 EDT 2004

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Subj:[AGA] LETTER/Baby Seal Fur On 5th Avenue 
Date:5/16/2004 11:40:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:bizshows at att.net
To:aga at lgal.org
Sent from the Internet (Details)

SAMPLE LETTER FROM KINSHIP CIRCLE
5/16/04--Baby Seal Fur On 5th Avenue
http://www.kinshipcircle.org
2 letters

SOURCE OF INFORMATION
http://www.friendsofanimals.org/news/cdboyct.htm
Friends of Animals & Caring Activists Against Fur Join Forces to Protest 
Furrier & Sealskin Designer Prada
For Immediate Release; Contact: Kymberlie Adams Matthews (212) 247-8120 
(Friends of Animals); Debbie Kowalski (646) 391-8007 (Caring Activists Against Fur)
[1][1] BBC News, "Canada completes main seal cull" (4/4/04).
[2][2] Cathy Horyn, The New York Times, "In Milan, Elvis Is Royalty and Prada 
Is Queen" (3/1/04).

*DISCLAIMER: The information in these letters is verified with the original 
source. I cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information or 
for the consequences of its use.

*Kinship Circle cannot guarantee the validity of email addresses. During a 
campaign, recipients may change or disable their email addresses.

======================SAMPLE LETTER #1======================

Katherine Ross, V.P. of Communications
Prada 
610 W. 52nd St.
New York, NY  10019  
ph: 212-307-9300

Dear Ms. Ross,

Prada may be a leader in haute couture, but its sale of garments and 
accessories derived from sealskins is a profound misstep. There is nothing 
sophisticated about Canada's annual slaughter of 12-day to 12-month old pups--animals so 
fragile they cannot yet swim or eat on their own. 

At least one million harp seals will succumb to high-powered rifles, clubs 
and shotguns over a three-year span. Eighty percent of the 350,000 quota for 
2004 are already dead. The New York Times reported: "With one or two blows to the 
head, they crush the skulls, sometimes leaving the young animals in 
convulsions. The men drag the bodies to waiting fishing vessels or skin them on the 
spot, leaving a crisscross of bloody trails on the slowly melting ice."

The New York Times also recently asserted, "No designer exerts more influence 
on the rest of fashion than Ms. Prada." If the Prada label hopes to maintain 
its influence and credibility, it simply cannot support the world's largest 
massacre of marine wildlife.

Despite global disapproval, the Canadian seal hunt continues largely 
unregulated due to limited supervision on the ice. Sealers track young harp seals to 
methodically butcher them in front of their nursing mothers. Dying animals are 
hauled away with sharp boat hooks. One observer told the BBC (4/7/04): "We 
filmed and witnessed seals being skinned alive right in front of us."

Polls indicate that a solid majority of Americans shun the entire fur and 
skin trade and prefer to shop at fur-free stores. I am among the many consumers 
who boycott companies that promote the fur and skin industry.

Fur bearing animals do not even receive the minimal protections established 
for farmed animals under the Humane Slaughter Act. Most animals are 
electrocuted through their genitals. Others are "neck-popped," injected with pesticides, 
or asphyxiated with carbon monoxide from unfiltered engine exhaust. Those 
mutilated in steel-jaw leghold traps are fatally shot, clubbed, stomped or drowned 
after languishing in the traps for days.

I urge Prada to not only end its use of seal skin in coats and other 
products, but to also adopt a fur-free policy that excludes the production and sale of 
ALL fur and fur-trim items.

Thank you,

======================SAMPLE LETTER #2======================

Pamela Wallin, Consulate General of Canada 
1251 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY  10020-1175  
ph: 212-596-1628; fax: 212-596-1793
email: cngny-td at dfait-maeci.gc.ca

Dear Ms. Wallin,

Once again, I appeal to the Canadian government to end the massacre of marine 
wildlife off
the shores of Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Prince Edward 
Island.  I am among the global majority who are sickened by Canada's annual 
bloodbath on the ice.  

At least one million harp seals will succumb to high-powered rifles, clubs 
and shotguns over a three-year span. Eighty percent of the 350,000 quota for 
2004 are already dead. The New York Times reported: "With one or two blows to the 
head, they crush the skulls, sometimes leaving the young animals in 
convulsions. The men drag the bodies to waiting fishing vessels or skin them on the 
spot, leaving a crisscross of bloody trails on the slowly melting ice."

Despite worldwide disapproval, the Canadian seal hunt continues largely 
unregulated due to limited supervision on the ice. Authorities have done little to 
enforce violations of the Marine Mammal Regulations. Sealers track young harp 
seals to methodically butcher them in front of their nursing mothers. Dying 
animals are hauled away with sharp boat hooks. One observer told the BBC 
(4/7/04): "We filmed and witnessed seals being skinned alive right in front of us."

Seal quotas are overlooked as well. For roughly every seal landed, another is 
shot and left to die under the ice. These lost seals are not even tallied in 
the quota.

I cannot, in good conscience, support Canadian tourism or commerce. I will 
encourage members of the public to join me in a Canadian product boycott during 
each year's seal-clubbing season--until these gruesome hunts are permanently 
banned.

Sincerely,
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