Fwd: Tell the Egyptian Authorities: Never Again

June 6, 2009

Thank you so much for taking action to put pressure on the Egyptian authorities to stop the horrific killing of pigs.

After weeks of campaigning and a storm of protest from across the globe, it appeared that the "culling" had finally been stopped. However, in response to the first confirmed case of the H1N1 virus, the slaughter will be resumed imminently.

We want to send an unequivocal message to the Egyptian authorities to underline the potential damage to the country's tourism industry if they fail to take action to stop the cruel slaughter and ensure an atrocity of this kind never happens again.

Take action

We're co-ordinating our networks across the world to send a mock visa application to20their country's Egyptian Consulate, stating that they won't be visiting the country until proper animal welfare laws are adopted and enforced and international standards adhered to.

The attention which we and other animal welfare organisations have drawn to this issue has already tarnished Egypt's reputation and many people have struck the country from their list of potential holiday destinations.

Over the past two weeks we have been putting pressure on the Egyptian Ambassador, Prime Minister and Tourism Minister, as well as intergovernmental organisations. We now want to pursue another channel of influence to get our message across.

By flooding Egyptian consulates across the world with fake visa applications - which rather than the "applicant's" personal details contains a message to the tourist authorities stating why we do not intend to visit the country - we hope that they will take this threat to their economy seriously, and bring their influence to bear on the Egyptian government.

We are doing this to press the Egyptian government to adopt animal welfare legislation which might have prevented this atrocity from ever taking place.

Around 160,000 pigs are thought to have been killed, many in the most appalling ways: tipped hundreds at a time into open-topped lorries, covered in caustic chemicals or stabbed through the heart with iron bars.

We need to ensure that cruelty of this kind can never happen again:

Please take a couple of minutes to

print off the "application" (180KB PDF) then sign and post it to the Egyptian Consulate at the address on the top of the form.

Please be assured that in sending this message to the Egyptian authorities, you will not be compromising your relationship with the country or contravening any laws. No personal details are included on the form and you need not even use your own signature.

Thank you once again for all your support.