British Columbia’s “Baywatch” beauty Pamela Anderson has invited a leading Chinese politician to join her in banning imports of seal meat and seal oil from her native Canada.
Anderson, who is a committed animal rights activist, has been campaigning for years to end the annual seal cull in her native country.
She has already urged leaders in Russia to ban imports of seal goods in a bid to weaken the industry, and now she’s urging officials in China to follow suit and stop their country being used as a “dumping ground” for seal meat.
Anderson has even asked China’s minister of land and resources, Xu Shaoshi, to visit Canada with her to witness the horror of the seal cull.
In a letter released by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Anderson wrote: “Please don’t allow China to become a dumping ground for seal meat and oil products that even Canadians don’t want.”
“If you witnessed this massacre, I’m sure that you’d have a change of heart about importing seal products into China,” she added.
Canada and China reached a deal this year on imports of seal products after a ban by the European Union.
Anderson’s campaign is not a passing fancy - she’s a prominent animal rights activist.
She has also called on India’s top medical institute to retire old monkeys used in scientific research, and has urged Israel’s ultra-orthodox Jews to abandon their traditional fur hats.
There are about 6,000 licensed seal hunters on the East Coast, but only a few hundred took part in the 2009 hunt.
“There is absolutely no reason for this slaughter to continue,” said International Federation for Animal Welfare  UK Director, Robbie Marsland. “There is no money to be made, and one sealer was quoted as saying the hunt is now being conducted simply for ‘sport’. The Government of Canada should admit that the seal hunt is cruel, that it is unnecessary, and they should end it immediately. What we have observed so far this year is simply unacceptable - there is no more room for excuses.”
In addition to the fact that the commercial seal hunt is cruel and inhumane, it is also a waste of Canadian taxpayers’ money. The landed value of the 2010 commercial seal hunt was just over $1 million in 2010, yet the Canadian government spent an estimated $2.3 million to support it.