Date: March 12th 2009

LIBBC LETTER TO VANCOUVER'S "GREENEST CITY" ACTION TEAM

We've been covered in 24 Hours Vancouver, and director Glenn Gaetz is on the front page of Thursday's paper! Check it out at http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/local/2009/03/12/8716376-sun.html and send your comments to feedback@24hrs.ca! Would YOU eat less meat if it meant saving the planet?

Liberation BC has written a letter (check it out here: http://liberationbc.org/campaigns/gcat_letter) to Vancouver's Greenest City Action Team, and Humane Society International, Vancouver Humane Society, Earthsave, and the Lifeforce Foundation signed on to add their support! We are asking that as part of the Action Team's initiative to make Vancouver a more environmentally-friendly city, they encourage residents to reduce their consumption of animal products.


Plus, read the article on the Georgia Straight blog here: http://www.straight.com/article-205447/vancouver-should-cut-meat-consumption-planet-animal-rights-groups


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LES AMIS DU FROMAGE

These "Friends of Cheese" are certainly no friends to ducks and geese.

You may remember that last fall, les Amis du Fromage told us that they were selling out their current stock of foie gras and had no plans to bring it back. It was back, though, and only a month later.

Well, les Amis has proved that they couldn't possibly care less about ducks. Les Amis sources their foie gras from Elevages Perigord, where undercover investigations revealed such cruelties as workers tearing the heads of live ducks off, kicking, throwing, and punching the birds, and the suffocation and crushing of live ducklings, among other abuses. (http://www.gan.ca/campaigns/quebec+foie+gras+investigation/index.en.html)

We can almost assume that not only does this treatment not concern them, but that they actually approve of it: they have increased their stock of foie gras!

Contact them and let them know that foie gras is inexcusably cruel:

Les Amis du Fromage, Vancouver
Telephone: 604-732-4218
Fax: 604-736-0460
Toll Free Telephone: 1-877-676-1166
Email: secondavenue@buycheese.com
and

Les Amis du Fromage, West Vancouver
Telephone: 604-925-4218
Fax: 604-736-0460

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THE BAY "DOESN'T CARE" ABOUT ANIMALS

The International Day of Action against the Bay went great, with animal rights groups all across the country organizing demonstrations! Here in Vancouver, our devoted activists--that means you!--were there with videos that showed what really goes into a fur coat, and we handed out over 600 leaflets to concerned passersby!

The Bay is becoming pretty upset by all the phone calls that their fur coats buyer, Carolyn Isaman (905-595-7124), has received, and has informed us to tell people to stop calling her because they don't care about fur animals being vaginally or anally electrocuted. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRo4oSHjl4)
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CANADIAN SEAL HUNT DEMONSTRATION

When: Friday, March 27, 12 noon
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery (Robson Street side)

This month, about 275,000 harp seals--95% of them between 12 days and 3 months old--will be slaughtered. CATCA is organizing the annual protest against the seal hunt this year, and Liberation BC will be there! Come on out for an hour or two at noon on March 27th and help the seals! All signs and information will be provided, but feel free to bring anything or anyone you like!

The government has done a good job of obscuring facts about the seal hunt. Did you know that there are no native people involved in the hunt, and that harp seals are not responsible for the depletion of cod stocks?

Learn more here: http://liberationbc.org/issues/seal_hunt and save the date!

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Here are 5 easy five-minute actions to help animals!

1. Target animals aren't the only ones who suffer when hunters set traps. Read this story in the Province about Sula, a beloved family dog who was forced to chew her own leg off to escape a leghold trap:

Sula's was a horrific injury, but it's one the veterinarian who amputated her rotting leg has seen before.

Dr. Jackie Enns said she often sees suspicious cuts or broken bones or other mysterious injuries in pets at her clinic and believes leghold traps did the damage.

Read the rest here: http://www.theprovince.com/Technology/story.html?id=1313193

You can thank the Province for covering this story at provletters@theprovince.com!



2. The University of British Columbia is conducting a short online survey to learn more about the public's opinions on animal testing.

If you're interested in taking the survey, click here: http://www.yourviews.ubc.ca/en/animalsinresearch Learn more about vivisection at our page: http://liberationbc.org/issues/vivisection



3. By now, everyone is aware that animal agriculture is the biggest contributor to climate change (http://veg.ca/content/view/133/111/), but did you know that organic animal agriculture (http://liberationbc.org/issues/organic) is no better?

"Even if all farms and methods, organic or otherwise, were optimized to reduce their effects on the climate, Foodwatch concludes that the principal approach to making agriculture more climate-friendly would require a drastic reduction in beef production."





Read the rest at Der Spiegel Online: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,574754,00.html


4. James Hamilton of Lifeforce (http://www.lifeforcefoundation.org/) has written an article in the Georgia Straight about corruption in the Vancouver Aquarium:

While the aquarium jumped onto the