Brigitte Bardot Speaks Up for Seals
The following is a guest post from actor and animal rights advocate Brigitte Bardot. A dedicated activist, whose foundation to help animals has tackled issues such as fur, horse slaughter, and companion animal overpopulation, Brigitte was the first celebrity to stand up for Canadian seals. Here, once again, she speaks out against the sinister seal slaughter.
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When, in 2003, some politicians and talk-show hosts called for a boycott of French products because of my country’s politics against the war in Iraq, sales of French wine dropped by 26 percent in the United States in just a few days. This boycott may have cost French winemakers $112 million because of lost sales overseas.
There is little doubt that consumer boycotts hit where it hurts the most—in the wallet!
These massive ethical reactions from consumers can sometimes convince a government or a corporation to change the way that it does business. That is why I am supporting PETA’s boycott of Canadian maple syrup until the Canadian government agrees to ban the slaughter of seals on the ice floes, the largest massacre of marine mammals on Earth, forever.
Canadian law authorizes seal pups to be legally killed as soon as they have lost their white baby fur, which happens about two weeks after birth. On the ice floes, the seals are bludgeoned, and some are skinned while still alive. Each spring, this vision of horror returns: The ice floes become an open-air slaughterhouse, where some pups are left in agony, their mothers trying desperately to revive their small bloody bodies.
This gruesome bloodshed has only one purpose: to fuel the fur trade!
Canadian officials are accomplices to these massacres and spend huge amounts of money to support this dying industry, which is a stain on their reputation in the eyes of the world.
This is why we must act and make Canada understand that it would be criminal, irresponsible, and economically suicidal to continue with the commercial seal slaughter.
The United States and the European Union have banned seal products, but Canada produces about 85 percent of the world’s maple syrup―the maple leaf is even the symbol of this country.
As French wine was the ideal product designated by Americans to protest France’s pacifist stance, maple syrup is the ideal product to boycott in order to protest Canada’s aggressive stance.
Refusing to buy maple syrup so as to refuse to be an accomplice to the slaughter perpetrated on the ice floes can send a strong message to Canadian officials. That’s why I am asking you to join PETA and boycott Canadian products to let the leaders of this country know that the seal slaughter is inhumane and disgraceful and that it represents a threat to Canada’s economy.
I’ve been leading this fight for more than 33 years now, and I’ve already had some victories―with you today, we can win the final fight. I’m really counting on you!
Written by Brigitte Bardot
