The 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver are four months away, but tomorrow the torch will be lit in an elaborate ceremony in Olympia, Greece. While the torch-lightings for the past few Winter Olympics have been disrupted by weather, it wasn't the clouds that had officials worried at today's final rehearsal …

It was PETA's "seal" and demonstrators who kept everyone on their toes.

As long as Canada, the host of the 2010 Winter Games, continues to allow sealers to bash in the heads of helpless baby seals, we'll continue to expose its shameful cruelty, wherever we can.

Posted by Karin Bennett

When PETA caught wind of Air Canada's financial woes, we flew into action with a tempting offer that could help keep the company flying sky high and save thousands of seals from being slaughtered on Canada's ice floes each year. PETA V.P. Dan Mathews will meet with an Air Canada representative on September 11 to discuss giving the Air Canada planes that fly between Canada and the U.S. a makeover—by wrapping them in our anti–seal slaughter ad. Check it:

In April, we asked US Airways to deck out a few of the planes that it flies in and out of Vancouver, home turf of the 2010 Olympics. Though that proposal was rejected, we haven't given up. Got any high-flying ideas about where we could place this ad next? Share your brilliance below.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

When we heard that the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) is selling cheap outdoor ad space to nonsponsors, you can be sure that only a few seconds passed before we signed up to place a billboard during the 2010 Olympic Games.

VANOC claims that the soft economy has created sluggish ad sales, so it's scrambling to make back some of the millions of dollars it spent stockpiling billboard space. Could it be that corporations are reluctant to spend their advertising dollars to support the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games when the word "Canada" is now synonymous worldwide with "baby seal slaughter?"

One thing is for certain—if VANOC accepts our offer, our billboard will be slated to educate visitors from all over the world about Canada's Olympic Games shame.

Posted by Karin Bennett

It's been a busy, busy week here at PETA. With so many different campaigns in full swing, we've had people out on the streets protesting the circus, and McDonald's, and the seal slaughter, and … phew. Why don't you just check out the pictures?

Me-yow!

At a recent "Unhappy Meal" giveaway, the staff of the neighboring convenience store couldn't wait to protest McDonald's.

Face it, Vancouver Olympic Committee. Protests will continue until the seal slaughter stops.

Hey, Olympic Committee! How about you help us get a "Countdown 'til the End of the Seal Slaughter" clock?

Fried or grilled, flesh is flesh no matter what animal it came from. Hopefully, this restaurant in Nevada got the message (and maybe KFC will too).

I don't know about you, but if I saw a giant seal with a hakapik, I'd pay attention!

Posted by Lianne Turner

businessreport / CC

In an effort to clean up its act before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the city of Victoria is building four new waste-treatment plants to handle the tens of millions of gallons of raw sewage that are currently being pumped into Puget Sound every day.

Processing sewage isn't the only thing that Canada needs to do in order to clean up its act before the Games. That's why we're suggesting that until Canada's prime minister finally washes the blood of baby seals from his hands, one of the new sewage plants be named the "Stephen Harper 'Something's Rotten' Sewage Treatment Plant" in his honor.

That's just our little way of reminding him that allowing hundreds of thousands of seals to be shot and beaten to death each year is a load of crap.

If Stephen Harper really wants his country to look good in time for the 2010 Olympics, he needs to act now to make sure that there won't be another seal massacre in 2010.

Otherwise, Harper may well find himself in deep doo-doo.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

smh.com.au / CC

With baby seal corpses littering Canadian ice floes, this year's seal slaughter has finally ended—but the outrage over the Canadian government's refusal to stop the killing is just getting revved up.

Outcry against the seal slaughter is echoing around the globe. The European Union and the U.S. have banned seal products, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for an immediate end to the slaughter, and world leaders have spoken out against the massacre. Demonstrations from London to Hamburg and Los Angeles to Toronto have made headlines, and people all over the world have sent a strong, united message that the seal bloodbath must end.

It's clear that the Canadian seal slaughter is quickly losing favor and support: This year, about three-fourths of the seals who were expected to be bludgeoned or shot to death were spared. But we still need your help to make sure that Canada doesn't think the protests will end just because the killing has slowed.

One dead seal is still too many, so we've revved up our campaign to get the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee to use its clout to stop the seal slaughter. Check out our new Web site OlympicShame2010.com and give us a hand, won't you?

Posted by Shawna Flavell

frontiersoups / CC

Plainly put: Money talks, and governments are slow to change the status quo unless they are compelled by an overwhelming response from outside forces.

Canada produces 85 percent of the world's maple syrup, and the maple leaf is known throughout the world to represent Canada. And, unlike seal skins, which have been banned throughout the U.S. and Europe, Canadian maple syrup is a product found in many grocery stores and kitchen pantries. A boycott of this iconic product will send a strong message to the Canadian government that people living both in and outside the country will not stand by while baby seals are beaten and skinned in front of their bellowing mothers.

The Canadian government has claimed that it continues to support the seal massacre for economic reasons. By boycotting maple syrup, continuing to hold demonstrations around the world, and targeting the upcoming 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, we will send the message that continuing the massive commercial seal slaughter will hurt Canada's economy far more than it helps it. Every time someone takes PETA's online pledge to boycott Canadian maple syrup, we will send a copy directly to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canada's Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day so that they realize how hard their continued support of the seal slaughter is hitting them in the wallet.

Canadian officials may turn a blind eye to seals' immense suffering, but the outcry against the seal slaughter echoes around the globe. Many compassionate Canadians have already spoken out against the slaughter, and PETA hopes that, as this year's slaughter draws to a close, Canadians will rally to defend their international reputation and tell their government once and for all that they will no longer stand by as this bloody massacre takes place in their country.

As a pancake and seal lover, I'll be buying only American maple syrup until Canada comes to its senses. Won't you join us?

Posted by Karin Bennett

Update: US Airways rejected our initial offer, but that little bump in the road isn't stopping us. We're still hopeful that we can work something out with the airline—and if US Airways isn't open to talking, we'll be approaching other airlines with the idea.

With the 2010 Olympics approaching, people are looking to book their travel to the Games sooner rather than later. So, we'd like to let would-be passengers know that there may be a reason (or 338,200 reasons) to skip that trip to Canada.

To that end, we've approached US Airways with a proposal. We'd like the airline giant to wrap a few of its planes (the ones that fly in and out of Vancouver—Games headquarters) with one of our ads:

US Airways is quite the global ambassador and thus is the perfect flying billboard to promote responsible travel. By placing our "Canada's Olympic Shame—End the Seal Slaughter" ad on the body of a few of its planes, US Airways will be doing its part to show Canada that the world won't rest until the cruel slaughter of baby seals ends. How do you like our design?

Posted by Shawna Flavell

Last week, I shared photos of people across the globe speaking up for seals. Fortunately, many Canadians are also standing up to let the world know that they are opposed to the seal slaughter. Check out these demo photos to see what ashamed Canadians are doing to show that they're not all a bunch of barbaric orcs up north.

Those are some seriously smart kids! These young British Columbia residents can probably relate to the baby seals who are being killed, most of whom are less than 4 weeks old.

They certainly know how to turn heads in London, Ontario.

Multiply that pile of bloody seal babies by 32,000 and you'll almost have the number of seals who will be killed this year.

Vancouver residents are preparing for the 2010 Olympics by illustrating the bloody horror of the seal slaughter.

Add some red ice and a grieving mother seal, and you've got yourself a massacre.

Are you a Canadian looking for ways to take action against the seal slaughter? You can start by signing this Facebook petition and sending it to all your Canadian friends.

Posted by Lianne Turner

Another year has come and gone, and still our snow-covered neighbor to the north continues to back the annual massacre of baby seals—the largest and bloodiest marine-mammal hunt on Earth. With the start of Canada's seal slaughter only weeks away, we held a press conference in front of Vancouver City Hall to kick off our campaign to stop sealers from bashing the heads of hundreds of thousands of baby seals.

Vancouver will be home to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, which will put Canada on center stage for much of the coming year, and we plan to put its shameful hunt there, too, for all the world to scrutinize. We have written to the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee asking for their help with persuading government officials to outlaw the hunt.

There's no word yet on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's reaction to our press conference, but he can be sure that we will continue to be a thorn in his side until he puts an end to the bloody seal slaughter once and for all.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

OK, I know I’ve written about our fashion police before (those saucy minxes who pass out citations to passersby who are wearing fur, leather, or wool), but these pics—from a recent Vancouver demonstration—are too good to pass up. I’ve never seen people look quite so happy to get arrested.