VITA and Russian stars have just completed an extraordinary flight to the White Sea to prevent the killing of baby seals

VITA Animal Rights Centre (Moscow)
www.vita.org.ru, vita-russia@yandex.ru Phone: 007-495-954-92-79

14.03.08. Press-release

Public protests against the killing of newly born Greenland seals in the Archangel region have resulted in a ban on the hunting of baby seals this year. Officially, the reason for the ban was the dangerously thin ice. The real reason was the wave of protests from celebrities and animal protectionists. Now the Russian animal activists and stars are trying to have this year’s ban on the hunt of white-coat pups and “greys” (slightly older pups) translated into a legal ban.

On 10 and 11 March Russian celebrities - singers & musicians Laima Vaikule, Alena Sviridova, leader of the rock group "Va-Bank" Aleksandr F. Sklyar, music critic Artemyi Troitsky, and famous sports commentator 1 tv channel Viktor Gusev, together with film and TV cameramen, made an extraordinary flight in two helicopters to the coastal village of Letnyaya Zolotitsa; here they disembarked on to the ice at a place where the Greenland seals give birth. The event was organised by VITA, the Animal Rights Centre (Moscow). (Photos of the event can be downloaded from VITA website www.vita.org.ru)

This extreme journey, which placed demands of strength and courage on the stars, had to be undertaken in two stages because of the unpredictable weather conditions in the North, and required an ice-reconnaissance by aeroplane the day before the scheduled landing on the ice-floe. A snowstorm on the first day meant the helicopters could not land on the floe, so they all had to make the short flight to the base of the “Living Nature Club”, where they saw for themselves what could be an alternative to hunting, namely, eco-tourism, which employs dozens of local inhabitants. Eco-tours include flights to see the new-born seals, holidays in the pine woods and seeing the ethical “industries” of the North: preparing cloudberries, bilberries, cranberries, mushrooms, seaweed, etc.

On the second day the weather report gave the go-ahead for helicopters to land passengers on the ice several kilometres from Letnyaya Zolotitsa, where seals had been spotted. The activists disembarked close to the place where the seals give birth and discovered several infants had just been born; they were still attached to the umbilical cord. Against the background of an idyllic picture of seals with their new-born infants, the Russian stars, watched by dozens of movie cameras and press photographers, spoke to camera, asking the public to join the protest and demand a legal ban in Russia on one of the cruellest crimes against nature committed by human beings: the killing of defenceless baby seals.
“I went there to say to the public: it is wrong to harm baby seals,” said Laima Vaikule. “But now I’m convinced this must be shouted from the rooftops! Seals, like human beings, carry their unborn babies a long time, 11 months … There I realised that I am one of them. One of those who are murdered thoughtlessly, for the sake of a few kopecks, to make a fur coat, by hired killers who have no sense of pity. How much pain, how many tears in every fur coat!”

Before boarding their helicopter the five celebrities improvised a demonstration against the barbaric seal hunt; they lay on the snow like newly born pups, next to a placard with the slogan, “Russia without cruelty!”

The stars’ descent on the White Sea, which caused the local authorities to ban this year’s hunt, provoked a tremendous furore in the seal-killers’ camp. From the moment of their arrival the stars had to face fierce opposition from the hunters; at the entrance to their Archangel hotel they were confronted by a group of furious seal-hunters carrying banners.

The press conference which took place immediately after the arrival in Archangel, and where hunters were among those present, turned into a stormy two-hour discussion. The three basic arguments of the hunt supporters were as follows; to keep alive the unique traditions of the local people, to control the seal population, and the lack of any ethical alternative employment in the region. Some of the hunters even followed the celebrities to the airfield where one of them tried to board the stars’ helicopter.

“We are sure that this project will attract massive attention to this problem not only among Russian society, but worldwide. We have had our first success – there will be no slaughter of baby seals this year,” said Irina Novozhilova, president of VITA. “However, we want the ban on killing to be made a legal requirement, and one that would cover seal pups of any age.”

Foto

_____________________________________________

First step on the road to victory:
The authorities in the Archangel region have backed the call to ban the killing of baby seals

VITA Animal Rights Centre (Moscow)

www.vita.org.ru, vita-russia@yandex.ru Phone: 007-495-954-92-79

4.03.2008

Press-release

Moscow-based animal protection organisation “VITA” is flying celebrities and journalists to the White Sea ice floes on 9 March, in the hope of ending the seal hunt in Russia once and for all. The flight was the subject of a lively press-conference which VITA organised with the help of Russian stars at Interfax on 28 February. The next day (29 February) the authorities in the Archangel region called on the State Fisheries Agency (Goskomrybolovstvo) to announce a ban on hunting Greenland seals below the age of one year.

Greenland seals swim to the White Sea (Russia, Archangel region) every year in late February-early March to give birth.

The utter helplessness of the baby seals makes them easy prey for seal-hunters, and their white coats are a desirable commodity for the fur trade. Russia is now the only country in the world that permits the slaughter of new-born pups of Greenland seals. (Canada allows the killing of “greys”, slightly older pups.)

There is a widespread myth that hunting baby seals is a traditional practice among the people living on the Russian White Sea coast, but the large-scale slaughter of seals only began in Stalinist times as a way of employing prisoners in the labour camps. Over the years it gradually died out because it was unprofitable; in 2006 no killing took place. However, last year the administrative authorities of the Archangel region signed a contract with the Norwegian firm G C Rieber Skin AS to kill white-coat pups in Russia, announcing the agreement as “a step in the regeneration of the region”. In 2007 the Norwegians equipped four ships with Canadian technology for the slaughter of white-coat pups, intending to build dozens more ships and a factory to process the carcases.This year the Russian authorities set a slaughter quota of 30,000 white-coat pups. There is no limit on the number of grey-coats that can be killed. The hunt is due to take place 1-10 March.

In February VITA began a campaign to stop the cruel slaughter of baby seals. It organised mass petitions, publicised the proposed hunt in the media and asked celebrities for support. On 28 February VITA, Interfax and Russian stars Laima Vaikule, Andrei Makarevich, Elena Kamburova, Konstantin Raikin and Mikhail Shirvindt held a press-conference in defence of the baby seals. It was widely reported in the media.

VITA is organising the helicopter flight to the White Sea ice-floes on 9 March to draw attention to this ethical problem and in the hope of achieving a ban on the killing of baby seals in Russia. The Russian stars prepared to defend the animals, together with VITA and media representatives will land on an ice-floe near the area where the seals are hunted. The journey is not without danger, because this year the ice has not frozen as solid as it usually does. Nevertheless, VITA and the celebrities are determined to get the killing stopped. Even if the State Fishing Agency accedes to the request by the Archangel authorities (which came about following the press-conference) and bans the hunt of white-coats, the flight will still go ahead: the animal defenders want to congratulate the baby seals.

Foto

_____________________________________________

Pamela Anderson Asks Russia's Top Designers to Go Fur-Free

Internationally renowned television and film star Pamela Anderson - on
behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment Animals (PETA) and the Moscow center for the protection of animal rights VITA - has sent a letter to Russia's top fashion designers, urging
them to stop using fur. Enclosed with the letter is PETA's shocking video
narrated by Anderson and dubbed into Russian - in which she describes the
horrific suffering of animals caught in traps and raised on fur farms as
graphic images of the animals' painful lives and deaths appear on the
screen. Although Anderson has written to North American designers who use
fur and even travelled to Paris to personally show the video to French
designers, her letter marks the first time that a mailing of this type has
been sent to Russian designers.

"It amazes me that some designers still turn animals into fashion
victims",says Anderson. "I've written to them all to say, 'Foxes and chinchillas
are anally electrocuted, beavers are drowned in underwater traps and minks are
injected with weedkiller, all for a tacky coat that makes women look like
Bigfoot!'"

In the video, Anderson takes viewers on a worldwide undercover tour of fur
farms and trap lines. In Russia, wolves, beavers and raccoons are trapped,
drowned and beaten to death in the wild, and in Europe and the US,
chinchillas and minks suffer electrocution and neck-breaking on fur farms.
In Korea, a top fur-producing nation, foxes are crushed between wooden
planks.

Pamela Anderson's letter to Russian designer (designer's name here)
follows.

For more information, please visit PETA's Web site FurIsDead.com
or contact Moscow center for the protection of animal rights VITA
at (495) 954-92-79, vita-russia@yandex.ru



I am writing on behalf of my friends at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the organization's more than 800,000 members and supporters worldwide. As a fan of fashion, I am always interested to see what top designers are using in their new collections, and I was disappointed to learn that you used real fur in some of your designs this season. Using real fur is completely unnecessary, since there are many fashionable and functional alternatives available.

You may not be aware of the cruelty inherent in the fur industry. Most animals killed for their fur are raised on fur farms, confined to cages hardly bigger than their own bodies. Most are killed while they are still babies, with gruesome methods such as electrocution, gassing, and neck-breaking-and without prior stunning. Some animals are still alive when they are skinned. Animals trapped in the wild are caught in steel leghold traps, and they often wait for days before the hunter comes to beat them to death. Some die of exposure or predation, others chew off their own limbs to escape, only to die later of blood loss or shock.

Enclosed you will find a video that I narrated about the cruel fur industry, which I hope you will take a moment to watch. What you will see on the tape is horrifying, but it is standard fur-farming practice. I hope it will persuade you to change your mind about using fur. Please let me know if you have decided to stop using real fur so that I can share that information with PETA's many supporters around the world. You can reach me by e-mail at PamelaA@peta.org. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Pamela Anderson