Message to EU - Stop the Slaughter of Baby Animals Now

Day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year millions upon millions of innocent lambs like the one pictured here are mercilessly slaughtered around the European Union and elsewhere in the world.

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In places like Scotland, Australia, the Netherlands and even in Great Britain these poor defenseless animals are regularly massacred, their blood running into the earth, simply to satisfy the gastronomic yearnings of people around the world. Every year the EU rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars from this barbaric practice. When will it stop? An upcoming Parliamentary vote to ban Harp Seal imports into the EU may finally provide an opportunity end the barbaric slaughter of these defenseless baby lambs once and for all. It may also provide animal rights groups with the means to limit exports of meat from cattle, geese, ducks, goats and any other species a caring nation may wish to prevent EU member nations from freely exporting. If the vote to ban seal products passes the EU Parliament the government of Canada intends to fight the legislation at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Canadian government contends that banning a product for importation simply because it is deemed by EU members as having been produced “inappropriately” in their eyes is a clear violation of WTO trade practices. The EU legislation is the first time any WTO member has attempted to block trade using such a method. If the WTO supports the EU ban on seal products it will set a precedent that will allow any nation to ban products it deem as being “unsavory” in the way it was produced or which violates the sensibilities of its people with regard to animal rights. This includes lamb and other products exported from the EU itself. Due to the nature of farming in various parts of the EU these poor lambs are not always killed humanely or consistently. Often individual farmers are left to perform the horrible act by cutting an animals throat, prodding it in the head with high powered electrodes or heaven only knows how they may decide to do it. Although many of the nations involved have regulations in place in an effort to make the process more humane, the laws are ineffective and all but impossible to enforce. Too few inspectors and too little concern is given to enforcing those laws with any kind of consistency across such a large and multi-national area. Often the lambs suffer immensely and nobody is there to hear them scream. As animal rights advocates around the world await the decision of both the EU Parliament and potentially the WTO afterward, the thought that is likely on their minds, or should be, is how quickly the horrible practice of slaughtering baby lambs can be put to an end.