PRETENDERS - HYNDE TAKES SLAUGHTER SCANDAL NATIONAL AFTER ZOO GIG BAN

HYNDE TAKES SLAUGHTER SCANDAL NATIONAL AFTER ZOO GIG BAN

THE PRETENDERS star CHRISSIE HYNDE's latest campaign to save petting zoo animals from slaughter has cost her a concert in Minnesota, Minneapolis.
The Brass In Pocket singer, a famous celebrity animal lover and activist, wrote to Minnesota Zoo bosses ahead of her band's August (09) concert, threatening to expose the practice of selling their Family Farm animals to slaughter houses at the gig unless they agreed to stop.
They refused and cancelled the Weesner Amphitheater concert, admitting the planned protest was among the reasons for the decision. Promoters are now looking for an alternative city venue.
The fuss has merely served to fire up the Pretenders frontwoman, who has now teamed up with animal rights group PETA to make the zoo secret a national matter.
She has sent a letter to Kris Vehrs, the executive director of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), asking her to bar accredited organisations from selling animals from petting zoos for slaughter.
Hynde writes, "How can a zoo invite children to touch and play with and express joy over animals for their uniqueness, only to turn around and sell those very animals to slaughter?
"A good rule of thumb would be: 'If you wouldn't do it to a giant panda, then don't do it to a chicken'."