Trio of Students Petitions Canada to Halt Cruel Baby-Seal Slaughter
For Immediate Release:
November 19, 2012
Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382
Mexico City -- The abuse of animals doesn't sit well with 11-year-old Zarah Blake and her sixth-grade classmates Eugenio Solorzano Fernandez and Beto del Lago Hernandez at Mexico City's Greengates School. That's why they started their own animal rights group, Stop Animal Hunting And Testing. And they mean business. They raised $264 for U.S.-based PETA by selling cupcakes and key chains that Zarah made herself and also sent Canada's ambassador to Mexico, Sara Hradecky, a petition with more than 450 signatures imploring her to urge her government to end its annual slaughter of baby harp seals.
In recognition of their extraordinary efforts to fight the slaughter of animals, Zarah, Eugenio, and Beto will receive a Star Student Group Award from PETA Kids, PETA's children's division. They will also be featured on PETAKids.com.
"The kindness and drive that Zarah, Eugenio, and Beto have demonstrated should serve as an inspiration to people of all ages," says Marta Holmberg, PETA's associate director of youth outreach and campaigns. "They remind all of us that you're never too young to speak out against cruelty to the most vulnerable among us."
To raise awareness about the seal slaughter, Zarah, Eugenio, and Beto made their own T-shirts, stickers, and leaflets. When students visited their table during a school exhibition, Zarah, Eugenio, and Beto told them how each year, the Canadian government gives sealers the green light to bludgeon hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals to death. During the slaughter, they shoot or repeatedly club the baby seals and drag them—often while they're still conscious—across the ice floes with boat hooks. Many seals are skinned alive. Mexico has joined the US, EU, and Russia – which had been importing 95% of Canadian seal pelts – in banning seal fur.
For more information, please visit PETAKids.com.