Former “Baywatch” star and animal activist Pamela Anderson has called on China to join other countries in banning imports of seal meat and oil from her native Canada, calling seal-hunting inhumane.
Anderson sent a letter to China’s minister of land and resources, Xu Shaoshi, inviting him to accompany her to Canada to witness the “cruelty of the annual seal slaughter.”
“Please don’t allow China to become a dumping ground for seal meat and oil products that even Canadians don’t want,” the letter said.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
Canada and China reached an agreement earlier this year on Chinese imports of seal meat and oil after the European Union banned seal products following an activist outcry over commercial seal-hunting.
Dozens of Chinese animal rights groups hit out at Canada in January over that deal, accusing it of turning China into a “dumping ground” for seal products.
In her letter to Xu, released last Tuesday by the animal rights group PETA, Anderson said many of the seals, some just months old and unable to escape, were bludgeoned to death with clubs that have sharp spikes mounted on them.
Photo: EPA
照片:歐新社
“If you witnessed this massacre, I’m sure that you’d have a change of heart about importing seal products into China,” the letter said.
The Canadian government maintains that the 350-year-old commercial seal hunt is humane and crucial for some 6,000 North Atlantic fishermen who rely on it for up to 35 percent of their total annual income.
Animal rights groups, however, say it is barbaric, and have waged an aggressive campaign in recent years to stop it.
Photo: EPA
照片:歐新社
Anderson, a buxom Canadian sex symbol who gained fame as a Playboy magazine “playmate” and then on the US beach-rescue TV series “Baywatch,” is a prominent animal rights activist.
Earlier this year she appealed, through PETA, to India’s top medical institute to retire old monkeys used in scientific research, and last year called on Israel’s ultra-orthodox Jews to abandon their traditional fur hats.
China is the third-largest importer of Canadian fish and seafood, behind the United States and European Union.
By authorizing seal meat and oil imports, it joined Japan and South Korea as new markets for Canadian seal products.
China’s government had no immediate response to Anderson’s appeal.
(AFP)
前「海灘遊俠」明星與動物保護行動者潘蜜拉‧安德森已呼籲中國加入其他國家禁止從她的祖國加拿大進口海豹肉與油,她稱海豹獵捕是不人道的。
安德森寄出一封信給中國國土資源部部長徐紹史,邀請他陪同她到加拿大,親眼目睹「年度海豹屠殺的殘暴行為。」
這封信寫道,「請不要讓中國成為一個海豹肉與油產品的傾銷市場。」
歐盟因一位行動者強烈的抗議而禁止海豹產品後,加拿大與中國竟在今年初對於中國海豹肉與油進口事宜,達成了一個協議。
許多中國動物權利團體一月在加拿大,針對那項協議猛烈抨擊,控訴它會把中國變成一個海豹產品的「傾銷市場」。
由動物權利團體「善待動物組織」(PETA)上周二公佈給徐的信寫道,安德森說,許多海豹被佈滿尖刺的擊棒毆打致死,有些才幾個月大且無從逃亡。
此信說,「若你目擊這個屠殺行為,我確信你就會改變對從加拿大進口海豹產品到中國的態度。」
加拿大政府維持三百五十年的商業海豹獵捕是人道的,且對六千名總收入的百分之三十五是靠捕獵海豹的北大西洋的漁民來說,是很重要的。
不過,動物權利團體說這是殘暴的,並且已在近幾年發動一個激進的運動,阻止(海豹獵捕)。
加拿大波霸性感偶像安德森,從當《花花公子》雜誌「玩伴」而得名,然後演出美國海灘救援電視劇「海灘遊俠」,她同時是一位重要的動物權利行動者。
今年初,她透過「善待動物組織」籲請印度的最高醫療機構讓科學研究用的老猴子退休;去年,她呼籲以色列極端正統猶太人,放棄他們傳統的皮帽。
中國是加拿大魚類與海鮮第三大進口國,僅次於美國與歐盟。
通過海豹肉與油的進口授權,中國加入日本與南韓的行列,成為加拿大海豹產品的新興市場。
中國政府未對安德森的籲求,做出立即的回應。
(法新社/翻譯:林亞蒂)
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