Throwing a pie in the face of Canada’s fisheries minister to protest the seal hunt should earn animal rights group PETA a “terrorist” label, a Canadian lawmaker said.
A seal hunt protester hit Fisheries Minister Gail Shea with a cream pie on Monday as she gave a speech in Burlington, Ontario. The animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, later claimed responsibility for the incident. Opposition lawmaker Gerry Byrne urged for an investigation into the incident that also takes into account Shea’s position as a top government official.
PETA officials dismissed Byrne’s comments as a “silly, chest-beating exercise”. “It is unlikely to impress anyone who has a heart for animals or who is bright enough to spot the difference between a bomb and a tofu cream pie,” PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement.
A 37-year-old New York City woman was taken into custody and charged with assault after the pie incident. Animal rights groups have waged an aggressive campaign in recent years to try to stop Canada’s 350-year-old commercial seal hunt, calling it barbaric. Ottawa maintains the survival of the species is not in danger and authorizes the slaughter of more than 300,000 seals annually along its Atlantic coast.
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