Call to Future Candidates!

Hi Everyone!

I know people are thinking of a lot of things at this time of year, but we're preparing for the next election, whenever that may be. Just the other day, Liz and Karen met with a monthly donor who is interested in being a candidate. And Liz has talked to a number of other activists asking them to consider playing such a role, speaking out in a different forum for animals like little kitty Jane.

There are a number of time consuming requirements to meet in order to be a candidate, but it is worth it to then be able to canvass and to be invited to debates where animal issues can be discussed.

If anyone would like more information, please contact us today.

All the best to you and yours, including any non-human animals in your life.

Lia and the AAEVPC crew

Great News for the Seals!

The European General Court has dismissed the application by the sealing lobby to suspend the prohibition of seal product trading pending the outcome of a court case.

This, hopefully, spells the beginning of the end of the commercial seal hunt in Canada, with the Federal government finally taking responsibility for a dying industry. Citizens on the East Coast deserve a better solution than putting their lives at risk to make a pittance by killing animals.

For more information, click on the link below to read the Humane Society International media release.

http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/news/releases/2010/10/seal_ban_suspension_dismissal_102810.html

Wolf Awareness Week

A message from the Canadian Wolf Coalition (which we support):

WOLF AWARENESS WEEK is October 17 - 23.

For another year, the BC government will CONTINUE to sterilize and kill wolves as part of a pilot project for mountain caribou recovery, as the Environment Minister CONSIDERS shooting wolves from helicopters. Please take a moment to learn about the issues and become involved. Then spread the awareness.

On October 23rd - One Day Only - add YOUR voice to the growing opposition of predator control in BC through Earthroots' fax centre at http://earthroots.org/index.php/BC-Wolf-Fax-Action-Centre.html.

Before the date please visit http://earthroots.org/index.php/Eastern-Wolf-Fax-Action-Centre.html and show your support for increased protection of threatened Eastern wolves.

Two new bounty programs have been initiated in Alberta's High Prarie region for livestock purposes. Contact the town councilors of Big Lakes and Clear Hills municipal districts to let council members know that education about preventative practices would be better for livestock producers, taxpayers and wildlife over the long term. Address concerns to the executive secretary and Reeves of each county.

biglakes@mdbiglakes.ca

melissa@clearhillscounty.ab.ca

For more information, visit www.canadianwolfcoalition.com

Sable Island Seals

On September 22, Liz and a number of others met with Parks Canada staff to discuss Sable Island. Present at the meeting were Barry Kent-McKay (Born Free Foundation), Rebecca Aldworth (Humane Society International Canada), David Lavigne (International Fund for Animal Welfare) and Bridget Curran (Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition).

After reviewing a number of documents, Animal Alliance presented a report to Parks Canada, all of which is available on-line at http://www.environmentvoters.org/Resources.html.

If you haven't already, please send a letter to the Honourable Gail Shea - we must make our elected officials understand that Sable Island must be left untouched. Personal letters are best but a sign-on letter is available to download, also at the above link.

From the Parks Canada website:

The following steps give an overview and outline of the expected sequence of events for Sable Island:

• Public consultations to secure public comment on the conservation, management and operational issues associated with the designation of Sable Island as a national park;

• Consultations with the Mi’kmaq and other key stakeholders;

• The governments of Canada and Nova Scotia would then negotiate any required park
establishment agreement;

• The federal government would then introduce legislation resulting in the legal designation of Sable Island as a national park of Canada;

• Parks Canada would then prepare a management plan, outlining key strategies and detailed objectives regarding ecological integrity, visitor experience and public education.

Elk Under Fire

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) is proposing a hunt of a tiny population of 467 elk in the Bancroft/North Hastings area, not far from Algonquin Park.

Historically, elk were widespread across North America. But by the 1800s, human settlement and overhunting caused the eastern elk to be totally wiped out. The OMNR undertook an elk restoration programme and 10 years ago released 443 western elk from Elk Island National Park in Alberta to four locations in Ontario.

Of the 443, 104 were released in Lake of the Woods, 47 in Lake Huron North Shore, 172in Nipissing/French River and 120 in Bancroft/North Hastings. Only the Bancroft/North Hastings herds which have increased from 120 in 2000 to 467 in 2010 are under fire.

Because of intense pressure from hunting and agricultural interests, the OMNR staff are proposing a hunt of the tiny Bancroft/North Hastings elk population. OMNR staff argue that the Bancroft/North Hastings population can sustain a hunt, even though under any other circumstances these elk would be considered endangered. In addition, OMNR staff will consider allowing farmers to hire agents to shoot any elk who are damaging agricultural property.

Six notices, all pertaining to the management of these elk, are posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) Registry. The deadline for comment on all six postings is October 14, 2010.

We need your help to stop this proposed hunt. Please click here for a sign-on letter to Minister Jeffrey and mail it as quickly as possible. The OMNR must protect the elk from the hunting lobby. The letter includes the EBR Numbers that apply to this issue. They need to be referenced so that your comments are taken into consideration by OMNR staff. If you wish to send in a hand written letter, please be sure to include all the EBR numbers.

Thank you for helping!

Liz, Lia and the AAEVPC crew

Sable Island Seals

Well, things have been chugging along.

Our financial statements were submitted and have been accepted by Elections Canada. Statements for all federal parties can be viewed on-line on the Elections Canada website.

Liz (and representatives from a number of other animal protection groups) is in Halifax today, meeting with Parks Canada to discuss Sable Island. Sable Island is a beautiful crescent-shaped sandbar in the Atlantic Ocean, home to the largest grey seal population in the world and the renowned ‘Sable Island Ponies’, among other species.

The Federal government’s decision earlier this year to declare the island a National Park gives us the unique opportunity to ensure our input, regarding the Park’s policies, is heard. Policies must be progressive, allowing nature to evolve naturally, as it has for hundreds of years.

We have much work to do to protect the Island from Parks Canada’s recent history of killing as one of their primary means to parks management. If you haven’t already, please take a moment to read the October 2009 document prepared for Fisheries and Oceans Canada entitled "Logistical Evaluation of Options to Manage the Grey Seal Population on Sable Island". We must make our elected officials understand that Sable Island must be left untouched.

A Note from Senator Harb

Dear Friend,

The 2010 commercial seal hunt has limped to end and I wanted to take a moment to share my latest speech in the Senate with you. Paste the following into your browser to access the text of this speech. http://www.parl.gc.ca/40/3/parlbus/chambus/senate/deb-E/038db_2010-06-15-e.htm?Language=E&Parl=40&Ses=3#62

The government has failed the people of Canada by refusing to accept that it is time to transition those involved in the commercial hunt into viable jobs with a future. The government’s lack of leadership has also caused considerable damage to the well-being of Canada’s Inuit and other indigenous hunters, and to Canada’s international reputation.

I encourage you to share this information with your friends and colleagues. And please continue to send me copies of any correspondence you have with MPs or Senators and we will add them to the more than 650,000 calls, emails and letters that we have received in support of efforts to end the commercial seal hunt.

I will continue to work hard to bring the government to account for its lack of leadership on this important issue in the hope that the 2010 hunt will go down in history as the last commercial seal hunt in this country.

Thanks for your continued support.

Senator Mac Harb


Cher ami,

La saison 2010 de chasse au phoque commerciale s’est terminée tant bien que mal et j’aimerais en profiter pour partager avec vous mon dernier discours au Sénat. Collez l'adresse suivante dans votre navigateur pour accéder au texte de ce discours. http://www.parl.gc.ca/40/3/parlbus/chambus/senate/deb-f/038db_2010-06-15-f.htm?Language=F&Parl=40&Ses=3#62

Le gouvernement a manqué à ses obligations envers le peuple canadien en refusant d’accepter qu’il soit maintenant temps d’amener les personnes participant à la chasse au phoque à effectuer la transition vers des emplois viables offrant des perspectives d’avenir. Le manque de leadership du gouvernement a également causé des dommages considérables au bien‑être des chasseurs inuits et d’autres peuples autochtones ainsi qu’à la réputation du Canada sur la scène internationale.

Je vous encourage à partager cette information avec vos amis et collègues. Veuillez continuer à m’envoyer copie de toute correspondance avec les députés et les sénateurs. Nous ajouterons vos envois aux 650 000 appels, courriels et lettres déjà reçus et qui nous appuient dans nos démarches pour que cesse la chasse au phoque commerciale.

Je continuerai à déployer tous les efforts nécessaires pour que le gouvernement reconnaisse son manque de leadership par rapport à cet enjeu important, dans l’espoir que la saison de chasse 2010 soit consacrée dans l’histoire comme la dernière chasse au phoque commerciale dans ce pays.

Je vous remercie de votre appui continu.

Le sénateur Mac Harb

A Note from Twyla

Hi Everyone,

Twyla Francois, Head of Investigation for Canadians for the Ethical Treatment of Food Animals (CETFA), recently sent out an e-mail about the Manitoba pig starvation case. In just 10 days, a petition created by a CETFA member received over 1,000 signatures internationally. The petition was forwarded to the Ministers of Agriculture and Justice and to the RCMP detachment assigned to the case, requesting a swift and severe prosecution of the offenders.

For more information about this case of cruelty and how you can help, please visit AAEVPC's "Resources" page and CETFA's website.

Thank you to all who are speaking out for the piglets!

Lia and the AAEVPC crew

Horror on Manitoba pig farm

On Friday June 18, 2010, the Manitoba RCMP received a call about a case of neglected pigs. According to the news articles what the officers found was horrific.

Upon entering the farm, the officers found 500 pigs dead from starvation and neglect. Of the pigs that were still alive, reports of an additional 160 (actually 1600) had to be euthanized because they were in such bad shape and a further 2000 were removed from the property.

Despite the terribly cruelty and the enormous number of pigs who were left to suffer and die, the media coverage has been limited and comments by politician absent.

We are deeply concerned that this incident will be ignored by the politicians and law enforcement officers, or worse, be swept under the rug. We cannot allow this to happen.

So we need your help. We need the Government of Manitoba to investigate and lay charges against the individual who neglected these animals. Those who perpetrate cruelty to animals must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, or the neglect of these pigs will go unpunished.

Please click here to download and send sign-on letters, the first to Dr. Wayne Lees, Chief Veterinary Officer and the second to the Honourable Andrew Swan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

Please sign both letters and mail them to the appropriate person. Let us make sure that the Manitoba government seeks justice for these poor neglected animals.

Thank you for your help!

Liz White

Barn Fire horrors continue

Since a coalition of groups began working on this issue over two years ago, little movement has been made by the federal government. We continue to demand that modifications be made to new and existing barns to protect humans and non-humans alike. With hundreds of thousands of animals dying horrifying deaths, it speaks volumes about our government's ethics and humanity.

All you have to do is visit Laurie Loveman's website on Fire Safety in Barns, and you'll get an idea about how pressing an issue this is in Canada. She keeps an extensive 'Fire Log' on fires throughout North America. Some other interesting resources are below.

Please contact your MP and MPP today and demand progressive, humane regulations.

For more information, visit the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals.

***

From the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs:

Barn Fires - An Increasing Problem for Ontario Farmers: Questions and Answers to Barn Fires and Fires in Large Farm Structures

A recent headline: Manitoba barn fires kill 7500 pigs

Another headline: Fires in factory farms are taking a heavy toll

Sable Island Seals Under Fire

We have been working with the Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition for some time now. The fight now is to save the seals on Sable Island, Canada's newest National Park.

The excerpt below is from the Coalition's website:

Just days after the government announced Sable Island is to be designated a national park, the government's macabre plans for the island have been revealed. The Coast newspaper obtained through an Access to Information request a document entitled 'Logistical Evaluation of Options to Manage the Grey Seal
Population on Sable Island.' Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans commissioned engineering firm CBCL to research and prepare a report setting out different scenarios for reducing the grey seal population on Sable Island. One of the options involves injecting 16,000 adult females with a form of contraceptive for five years. The other option involves a nightmare scenario of slaughtering 220,000 adults and pups period over a period of five years during their whelping (birthing, nursing and mating), slinging their carcasses using modified heavy loaders, and disposing of their bodies using modified wood chippers and portable incinerators set up on the island. One option details killing 100,000 adults and pups in 25 days in the first year, with 30,000 being slaughtered each year for the next four years. The report advises that any nursing whitecoats orphaned when their mothers are culled are to be killed immediately or they will starve to death. There will be MANY pups orphaned when their mothers are culled so it is inevitable that MANY whitecoats will be slaughtered during these so-called 'culls.'

For more information and to find out how you can help, please visit http://www.antisealingcoalition.ca/

Ending the seal slaughter

Below is a link for an article by Rebecca Aldworth, executive director of Humane Society International/Canada (HSI). We have done a lot of work with HSI on this particular issue, and thanks to everyone's hard work and persistence, thanks to everyone sending in letters to the government, thanks to everyone calling and voicing their support for the seals, an end to Canada's commercial seal hunt may be in sight.

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=3036245

We MUST keep working in order finally to reach a progressive and truly sustainable solution for the seals and the people of Newfoundland.

As many of you know, Liberal Senator Mac Harb made history by introducing a private member's bill on March 3rd, 2009, calling for an end to the commercial seal hunt. Senator Harb has re-introduced this bill, Bill S-207. A second senator, Conservative Senator Lowell Murray has seconded the bill, but it is still being prevented from being discussed in the House. Senator Harb has asked for help to flood Canada's Senate with messages of support.

Please, call and write the Senators, and urge them to do everything in their power to end the Canadian commercial seal hunt. Hand-written letters are best, but you can also print our sign-on letter by clicking here. Letters can be mailed postage-free to Senator Harb.

The Honourable Mac Harb

376 East BlockThe Senate of Canada

Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A4
Tel: 613-996-2379 / Fax: 613-996-2318
e-mail: harbsealbill@sen.parl.gc.ca

Cormorant Slaughter in Point Pelee

First we would like to thank everyone who sent in declaration forms in order for us to maintain our party status. We received a great response and are sending in the forms to Elections Canada today. THANK YOU!!

On a sad note, the cormorant slaughter on Point Pelee's Middle Island has already claimed the lives of hundreds of birds. Liz and other activists are there, documenting the killing. For those who are not familiar with the issue, Cormorant Defenders International reports the following:

"The most significant threat to Double-crested cormorants are the very agencies charged with their protection. In Canada, those agencies are Point Pelee National Park & Parks Canada and Presqu'ile Provincial Park & the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR).

Parks Canada and the OMNR oversee three locations that are home to Ontario's largest cormorant colonies. Parks Canada controls Middle Island in Lake Erie, while the OMNR controls East Sister Island in Lake Erie and High Bluff Island in Lake Ontario.

Middle Island, a tiny speck of land in Lake Erie that became part of Point Pelee National Park in 2000, is threatened. A mass kill of the island's naturally occurring Double-crested cormorant population began in 2008 and will continue for a number of years. The plan to almost wipe out the birds on the island was scheduled to be in full swing in 2008, but a CDI legal challege in federal court delayed it considerably resulting in less than 250 birds being killed, instead of the many thousands that were originally targeted. CDI representatives observed the cull from boats positioned next to Middle Island and from a land-based station on neighbouring Pelee Island. In 2009, the cull resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,600 birds.

The park claims the kill is necessary to save Middle Island's vegetation, but changes to the composition of vegetation are part of the natural process of succession experienced wherever colonial birds are found. The cormorants pose no threat whatsoever to the survival of any plant or animal species and Middle Island is one of the few locations available where cormorants can colonize.

HELP CORMORANTS TODAY!

Raise this issue today with Environment Canada Minister Jim Prentice! Let him know that the slaughter of cormorants on Middle Island, part of Point Pelee National Park, must be stopped. Tell him cormorants are a part of the natural ecology of Middle Island and that it should be allowed to evolve in a natural way. Remind him that their is no way to humanely kill large numbers of birds in the field and that doing so is an archaic, destructive and cruel method of wildlife management that has no scientific or ecological justification.

Jim Prentice, Minister of the Environment
Les Terrasses de la Chaudiere10 Wellington Street,
28th FloorGatineau, QC K1A 0H3
Fax: (819) 953-0279

Renew! Renew!

Elections Canada has just sent us a notice: "To maintain its status, a registered or eligible political party must every 3 years provide the names, addresses and declarations of at least 250 electors who are members of the party". We are in the process of mailing declarations to our members.

If you'd like to sign a declaration, click on the following link, fill out the declaration form and mail it to the AAEVPC office (101 - 221 Broadview Avenue, Toronto, M4M 2G3)

http://www.elections.ca/pol/pol/EC20036_c.pdf

Thanks so much for allowing us to be able to continue speaking out for the animals. We couldn't do it without you!

With gratitude,
Lia and the AAEVPC crew

Seals saved!

You may have already heard the GREAT NEWS!

The seal hunt that was set to take place on Hay Island has been called off! Thank you to everyone who helped save the seals!

Hay Island is part of the Scaterie Island Wilderness Conservation Area, just off Cape Breton. We had been lobbying the Nova Scotia Environment Minister, Sterling Belliveau. He amended the Wilderness Areas Protection Act (in a record 5 days!) to allow for the commercial killing of grey seal pups. The meetings we had left us feeling unsuccessful, the Minister telling us that there was no way he would call a moratorium - so this news has come as a pleasant surprise.

Click here for the full news article: http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=329896&sc=145

The quota this year was set for over 2,000 pups. For the past few years, this hunt has gone largely undetected, overshadowed by the larger commercial hunt on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and then at "the Front", the east side of Newfoundland. [In spite of there being little ice this year for the seals to whelp (meaning a high mortality rate for pups), hunts in the Gulf and on the Front are set to go ahead.]

The EU ban on seal product imports will have a tremendous impact on this year's hunt. But our work is not yet finished. The Canadian government has yet to act in a progressive and humane way to resolve the complex issue of the hunt, for the seals and for the citizens of the east coast who eek out a living by risking their lives for a few dollars. We must continue to speak out on behalf of the seals.

Every year for the past three years, the quota for animals killed has increased. The quota for 2010 is set to be announced mid-March.

Please let the Minister know that it's time to end Canada's shameful commercial seal hunt. For more information, visit http://www.hsicanada.ca/wildlife/seals/seal_hunt_2010/

The Honourable Gail Shea
House of Commons
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
Parliament Buildings
Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A 0A6
Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

With gratitude for your help,
Lia and the AAEVPC crew

Progress comes slow

Sorry for the long absence. December and January were quite hectic months. Many people wanted to donate right at the end of the year to Project Jessie (and to make sure their donation was included in the 2009 calendar year). And now we're preparing to send out receipts to all our monthly donors. And all this means that our audit is right around the corner.

But enough about our administrative burdens! It is all done for the animals.

We have been swamped lately by a number of municipalities wanting to kill "overabundant" native species, including coyotes and deer. And the most recent disappointment has been the Nova Scotian NDP government allowing a commercial grey seal hunt on Hay Island (a part of the Scaterie Island Wilderness Conservation Area!), off Cape Breton. We have been to NS twice now, to no avail. Parks Canada and other government agencies continues to persecute wildlife, using their "scientists" to justify the indulgence they grant to hunters all across Canada.

On October 28, 2009, Alexandra Mendes, Liberal Member of Parliment for Brossard - La Prairie, tabled Bill C-468 to amend section 148 of the animal transportation regulations to bring them in line with transportation times enforced in the European Union. The bill was seconded by Frank Valeriot, Liberal Member of Parliment for Guelph, Ontario, and Alexander Atamanenko, NDP Member of Parliament for British Columbia Southern Interior. This was fantastic progress for farm animals, but now a the bill will have to be reintroduced in the next parliamentary session.

But to keep us positive, we are surrounded by happy beings, including Hannah, pictured above enjoying her time in our salad bowl! We still have had no inquiries about our FIV office fosters = ( They run wild here but they so deserve a home...perhaps, in time.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading!

Lia and the AAEVPC office crew