Wednesday, May 5, 2010

'Dancing with the Stars' Pamela Anderson & Damian Whitewood Seal Mission Before Waltzing Off

Model, actress, mother, animal rights activist, and entrepreneur Pamela Anderson
and professional dancer Damian Whitewood
"Dancing with the Stars" (Adam Larkey/ABC News)

After a performing a classy, highly polished waltz number Canadian actress Pamela Anderson and her partner Australian dancer Damian Whitewood were voted off the Dancing with the Stars show in week 7 on Tuesday.

Pamela summed up her DWTS dancing debut with "This has been one of the best experiences in my life and that says a lot. I've had a lot of great experiences," said the double entendre-prone star. Host Tom Bergeron, who noted they'd been trying to get her on the show since the first season, praised her saying, "You've turned me into a 12-year-old boy every week." Pamela and Damian chat about their "Dancing" experience after the jump.



Pamela received a standing ovation as she took her final spin around the ballroom. "I wish everybody well, all the dancers," she said "It was a great experience."


Just days before before being voted off the show Pamela and Damian paid a visit to the office of the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles, to deliver an important letter on behalf of PETA to His Excellency Gary Doer who hails from Winnipeg, Canada.

Ambassador Gary Doer and President Barack Obama
Washington, D.C., November 4, 2009

While accompanied by two PETA representatives, the dynamic dancing duo dropped off the letter which requests the Ambassador's help to put an end to the annual Canadian seal hunt. This is the first time Australian dancer Damian had heard of the Canadian seal hunt.

In the clip below Pamela shares details of the seal hunt while enroute to the Canadian Embassy.



"They killed 65,000 seal pups this year, and there's absolutely no market for them," Pam tells Damian. "We think that the Canadian government is subsidizing this for some reason."

Pamela calls the Canadian seal hunt "the biggest embarrassment to Canadians," and adds that hundreds of thousands of seal pelts have been stockpiled, "[so] we're wondering why they're still continuing the hunt."

Pamela adds that there's a ripple effect to this slaughter, with the overall numbers of polar bears dwindling as well since a prime source of their food is seals.

"It's just greedy fishermen trying to make a cash bonus on the side," says Pamela. "It's brutal and it's barbaric. It's 2010; why are we beating baby seals to death?"

During the annual seal slaughter—the largest massacre of marine mammals on Earth—tens of thousands of baby seals have their heads bashed in or are shot. Sealers hook baby seals in the eyes, cheeks, or mouth to avoid damaging their fur. They then drag them across the ice, often while the animals are still conscious.

The seal slaughter is an off-season profit venture for the fishing industry, and it accounts for less than 1 percent of Newfoundland's economy. It is not a subsistence activity for native peoples. Inuit sealing accounts for only about 3 percent of the slaughter. The European Union and the U.S. have banned seal products, and world leaders—including US President Barack Obama, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and His Holiness The Dalai Lama—have spoken out against the carnage.

Sheryl Fink, Senior Researcher, IFAW Canada
"Horrific cruelty observed during second day of seal hunt 4/9/10"


For more information on the annual Canadian seal slaughter please download Canada's Commercial Seal Seal Slaughter 2009, a 40 page report compiled by IFAW's Senior Researcher Sheryl Fink an annual observer of the seal hunt.

'Celebrities for seals' clips and additional information can be found at Canada’sShame.com

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Source: Abcnews.com, TheInsider.com, PETA, IFAW




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