Purrs 4 Peace Week 35 Announcement: Baby Seals Clubbing is not Sporting

May all that have life be delivered from suffering.
-- Buddha

The Winter Olympics is set to begin in Vancouver, Canada on February 12th. But the image I have of Canada this year won’t be of smiling olympians, snow covered mountain peaks, and athletic glory. In my minds eye I am seeing the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of seals in a hunt sponsored and sanctioned by the Canadian government. Indeed, Canadian government (Dept of Fisheries and Oceans) has made a decision to allow commercial slaughter of 2220 baby seals on Hay Island around February 8th. What a way to welcome the world to your country....with blood and pain.

And a larger hunt is expected to begin in March after the Olympics end.... a massacre expected to exceed 200,000. Gentle baby seals are shot or clubbed. Many are bludgeoned before they have had their first solid meal or learned to swim. Sealers are known to hook the seals, in the eye, cheek or mouth to avoid damaging the pelts. And if anyone thinks that these animals are not sentient and cannot feel pain they should see video of the mothers, forced to watch just a few feet away as they cry out when their pup is killed.

This....the largest slaughter of marine animals in the world...has to be stopped!

What can we do?

* A number of organizations have information as to supporting a ban on their sites including:

PETA http://www.peta.org/feat-canadaSealHunt.asp

The Humane Society of the United States http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/seal_hunt/

• Boycott Canadian products and don’t spend your tourist dollars in Canada. ***I have tons of Canadian friends and it pains me to recommend this.
• Write/e-mail NBC who is broadcasting the Olympics. If they believe they might lose viewership of this event, it is possible some pressure may be exerted.
• Do not buy any product with fur or even questionable faux fur.
• Write the Canadian Prime Minister.

Snail mail address: The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON
Canada K1A 0A2

Email address: pm@pm.gc.ca

****A recent poll indicated over 70% of Canadians oppose the seal hunt. It is apparently only politicians and special interest business that support it.

Last...but not least....we purrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Week 35 of Purrs 4 Peace details are as follows:

• Week thirty-five’s appointed time is Sunday, February 7, 2010.
• Participants should purr for three minutes commencing at 3 p.m. EST (U.S.) which is 8:00 p.m. (20:00 hrs.) BST in the U.K.
• The cat’s human staff should assist their cats with the project by stroking and nuzzling the cat at the appointed time.
• Please post your cat name and the country you purr in at www.confuciuscat.blogspot.com as a COMMENT if you are participating in this historic project. (posting a link to your own website-if you have one-is encouraged.) Or let me know by message on twitter or facebook.
• Posting purrs on facebook ( Acolytes of Confucius Cat or as friend to Alley Mason) and twitter (@ConfuciusCat) is encouraged, since it inspires purring in others, but not required. On twitter please use #purrs4peace in your tweets.

Peace * Paix * Frieden * Vrede * Pace * Paz * Shalom * Salaam * Om Shanti * Heddwch * Síochán * 和平

Purrs 4 Peace Week 31: Purr for Fur...on animals

Killing an animal to make a coat is sin. It wasn't meant to be, and we have no right to do it. A woman gains status when she refuses to see anything killed to be put on her back. Then she's truly beautiful.
-- Doris Day

Greed is at the heart of the fur trade as it is at the heart of many, if not all of the cruelty in this world. Until we can change the hearts of those for whom greed is the main motivation for every action, we must use that greed to eradicate problems. We must therefore stop giving our money to any enterprise that does not respect our values of animal rights, safety and fair treatment. From my research China is currently the primary source of

There is a more insidious element that props up the fur trade and other cruelties. And in the current economic conditions even good and compassionate people are falling into it: the consumerist society and the drive to have consume those profits at the lowest possible price. The idea of patronizing a store if it offers an item for five cents less than at another store even if that item is of shoddy workmanship, may contain no lead paint of other toxins, was produced under slave labor circumstances or resulted from the cruel killing of animals. In my opinion, many cruelties could be eradicated simply by avoiding buying items we do not NEED and when making our purchases we are aware of the source of the product. Indeed, investigations show that items containing dog and other fur have been sold at Walmart due to mis-labeling and false labeling.

In our household when we do not NEED an item we do not buy it unless it can be said to come from a cruelty free company. Whenever we purchase we avoid all goods from China and other countries notorious for their lack of standards. And we are willing to pay a little more to support products produced locally and within this country.

"Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."
~ Thomas Jefferson

Today we will do more to eradicate the bloody and vicious fur trade. We will purrrrrrrr.

2:59 p.m. Get ready to Purrrrrrrr for.

SET.

3:00 P.M.

Confucius Cat say: GO!

Purrrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrrr, purrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrrr, purrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrrr, purrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrr,. Purrrrr,purrrrrr.....

Purrrrrrrrrrr, purrrrrrrrrrrr, purrrrrr Imagine respect for ALL life blooming in every heart.

Purrrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrrr, purrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, purrrr, purrrrr, See compassion triumph over greed, see empathy triumph over indifference.

Purrrrrrrrrr..... See kindness triumph over ambivalence. See sympathy triumph over narcissism.

Purrrrr........Imagine the headline: fur trade collapses as every fur farm closes, every trapper turns to a new trade, every dealer declines new business.

Purrrrrrrr....See all traps broken, See all chains broken, See all cages destroyed.

Purrrrrr....See safety triumph over pain. See life triumph over death. See PEACE prevail.

Peace * Paix * Frieden * Vrede * Fred * Pace * Paz * Shalom * Salaam * Om Shanti * Heddwch * Síochán

Purrs 4 Peace Week 31 Announcement: Fur is for Animals not for Fashion

Photo credit: Ryan Hagerty/US Fish and Wildlife Services


No one in the world needs a mink coat but a mink. ~Murray Banks

Fur farms around the world subject, raccoons, dogs, rabbits, foxes, mink and other animals to cruel lives spent in wire cages only to die of inhumane neck-breaking or electrocution. Some video from china shows animals, including dogs, being skinned alive.

Each year over 50 million animals each year are slaughtered for their fur…for the sake of some person somewhere to feel they “look” good. There can be nothing more infuriatingly narcissistic. Can you imagine believing that your appearance gives you the right to inflict unimaginable suffering on another being?

Buying fur and fur trimmed items also results in the killing of dogs and cats. Most dog and cat victims are killed in Asia and their fur exported worldwide. While the U.S. bans the sale of dog and cat fur, it still slips into this country on unlabled or falsely labled items.
However, many dogs and cats- along with wild animals- are killed accidentally in indiscriminately placed traps.

Again…as with many of the issues on which we have purred…the sources of this cruelty is ultimately greed. Therefore, we must appeal to that greed…if nothing else… and refuse to buy products from Asia, most critically those with fur or fur trim.

Week 31 of Purrs 4 Peace details are as follows:
• Week thirty-one’s appointed time is Sunday, January 10, 2010.
• Participants should purr for three minutes commencing at 3 p.m. EST (U.S.) which is 8:00 p.m. (20:00 hrs.) GMT in the U.K.
• The cat’s human staff should assist their cats with the project by stroking and nuzzling the cat at the appointed time.
• Please post your cat name and the country you purr in at www.confuciuscat.blogspot.com as a COMMENT if you are participating in this historic project. (posting a link to your own website-if you have one-is encouraged.) Or let me know by message on twitter or facebook.
• Posting purrs on facebook ( Acolytes of Confucius Cat or as friend to Alley Mason) and twitter (@ConfuciusCat) is encouraged, since it inspires purring in others, but not required. On twitter please use #purrs4peace in your tweets.

This week we purr to end the slaughter. We purr for life happily and safely lived for all animals. We purr for the spread of compassion. We purr for the triumph of PEACE.