Stopping the Namibia Seal Slaughter
NAMIBIA
PETITION FOR THE CAPE FUR SEALS
NAMIBIA
Seal Alert SA sasealion@wam.co.za
Date:
July 1,
2006 11:12:51 AM
Front Page of the Namibian today, 5th of July
26
Subject: Stopping the Namibia Seal Slaughter
which starts July 1st 2006
Ending the Namibian Seal Harvest
Struggling to
free itself, this sealer plunges the knife into the
chest of this 7th month old baby seal,
its mothers milk pours out ..
it continues to
wriggle and suffer long after - 60 000 of
them
Since the
14th Century the slaughter of these baby Cape fur seals
still nursing on mothers milk has continued year after
year, after year. The current Namibian seal slaughter of 60
000 baby seals and 7000 bulls is the second largest seal
harvest in the world. An intensive investigation by Seal
Alert-SA over the past several years has pieced together a
number of issues, that with you help, TODAY - could help
end this slaughter finally.
Sealing used to be conducted exclusively
on islands, but as the seal numbers became depleted from
sealing by 1900, seals fled to the desert mainland in
northern South Africa and Namibia. From 1940, sealing
activity moved to the mainland because it was easier to
round up and club these baby seals to death. Within 30
years mainland colonies were growing after sealing at over
400%. Because females were exempt as no market existed and
mostly the larger male pups were taken in the harvest,
creating an unnatural increased female breeding population.
This human induced population imbalance was turned against
the seals and the harvests turned to purely culling
exercises to reduce the population that humans continued to
cause through sealing.
In 1972 the US brought out the US Marine
Mammal Protection Act in which it banned the taking of seal
pups still nursing. 60% of the pups were born on farms
belonging to De Beers Diamond mining company. South Africa
which was exporting all its skins at the time to the US,
became to only country in the world to challenge this act.
In 1977 the US Appeal Court upheld the banning of Cape Fur
seal imports. This should have ended the sealing industry
in southern Africa. Instead it was only in 1990, that South
Africa ended sealing.
In 1990, Namibia also became independent, and
by this stage 75% of the seal pups were being born on the
mainland. Once again 60% of these pups were being born in
the diamond restricted area, known as the sperrgebiet,
controlled by De Beers. Sealing in Namibia is undertake by
only two concession holders on two mainland colonies were
75% of the seal pup population is born, were less than 160
part-time un-skilled migrant workers are employed for a few
months. The 2000 income from 42 000 pups killed was just
$85 000 or less than $3 a seal. The sealing quota is
divided between these two concession holders, one at Cape
Cross (a nature reserve) and the other Wolf/Atlas Bay
(diamond restricted area). Since 1990, the seals in these
colonies have experienced two mass die-off's from
starvation, due to overfishing, were one third to one half
of the population starved to death.
In 2000, when Namibia doubled its sealing
quota to 60 000 baby seal pups, after the harvest, it
announced that 300 000 seals had starved to death in this
same year. As the sealers have only been able to harvest
less than 50% of the quota, Namibia lengthened the sealing
season to July the 1st. Which meant even younger seal
babies could be stabbed and clubbed to death.
What You Can Do to Help
End this
In the past few weeks I have been
very busy writing letters, unlike the Canadian Seal Hunt,
there is absolutely no press coverage on this subject,
however I have managed to get a wildlife program called
50/50 on SABC 3, to do a program on the seals. We need to
put certain organizations on television so that millions of
South Africans can hear their replies to certain questions.
60% of the seals to be killed are
situated within the diamond restricted area of Namibia,
known as the sperrgebiet. De Beers denies that they are
involved in culling seals or that the land belongs to them,
more importantly they refuse to publicly denounce the
clubbing of nursing seal pups within the diamond restricted
area. Professor Patti Wickens the environmental manager for
De Beers refuses to be interviewed for this
program. Write to them and demand a public statement
on their position on seal clubbing in Namibia. Stephen.Lussier@debeersgroup.com
; Daniel.Kali@debeersgroup.com
; Ndeshi.Hangula-shikwambi@debeersgroup.com
; Christine.DuPlessis@debeersgroup.com
; Patti.Wickens@debeersgroup.com
; Graham.Main@debeersgroup.com
; Tom.Tweedy@debeersgroup.com
; Hannes.Britz@debeersgroup.com
; Zerreta.Brendell@debeersgroup.com
; Maria.Kambazembi@debeersgroup.com
; suzette.Plantema@mhs7.tns.co.za
De Beers also says that we must
take this up with the Minister of Fisheries, so write to
both the South African and Namibian officials involved, and
demand that as this is one population of seals, and as
South Africa ended their seal harvest in 1990, Namibia
should do so as well. Demand to be told why still
nursing baby seal pups are allowed to be killed when the
population has already suffered two mass die-off's from
starvation. aiyambo@mfmr.gov.na
; boelofsen@mfmr.gov.na
; bvanzyl@mfmr.gov.na
; Antonio.Tavares@fao.org
; hkleinschmidt@feike.co.za
; rlittle@wwfsa.org.za
; skirkman@botzoo.uct.ac.za
natparks@africaonline.co.zw
; mostmah@lycos.com
; research@kws.org
; abdelhamidkarem@yahoo.fr
; traffic@trafficint.org
; traffic@wwfsarpo.org
; trafficza@uskonet.com
; shaund@robben-island.org.za
; mwillemse@deat.gov.za
; clenders@deat.gov.za
; stoffelf@pprotect.org
; garyp@pprotect.org
; LawrenceM@pprotect.pwv.gov.za
; verne@nelsonmandela.org
; akathrada@anc.org.za
; jbell@ifaw.org
; dnel@wwf.org.za
; nrockman@pgwc.gov.za
; president@iucn.org
; achim.steiner@unep.org
; adg.ibrahim.thiaw@iucn.org
; Patti.Wickens@debeersgroup.com
According to Dr Van Zyl of the
Namibian Fisheries, the Minister of Namibia offered the
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and
opportunity to "buy-out" the two sealers in Namibia and end
the seal harvest. IFAW rejected this offer. I have written
to the Oppenheimer family which controls De Beers to seek
their assistance to re-open this offer with Namibia. The
filmmakers have requested Jason Bell of IFAW to comment on
this "buy-out" offer on camera, to date IFAW has refused.
Please write to Dr Van Zyl, bvanzyl@mfmr.gov.na and
Jason Bell, jbell@ifaw.org and
request details of this offer be made public, so that we
the seal supporters can decide. Write to as well, the
Minister, aiyambo@mfmr.gov.na and
Dr Little WWF-SA, rlittle@wwfsa.org.za and
De Beers Public relations, Suzette Plantema,
suzette.Plantema@mhs7.tns.co.za and
the De Beers country manager in Namibia, Daniel Kali,
Daniel.Kali@debeersgroup.com.
Please write to other IFAW offices in your area for
comments on this "buy-out" offer.
We also need the media to respond
and write articles, jyeld@incape.co.za
; melanieg@ctn.independent.co.za
; news@namibian.com.na
; helenb@incape.co.za;
fionm@mg.co.za.
Dannie van der Walt vanderwaltdf@sabc.co.za and
Penny at Carte Blanche, Penny@carteblanche.co.za.
You can also write to these two
sealers and tell them that you think that the clubbing of
nursing baby seals is humane and sick for a few dollars of
profit. They are Mr William Burger of Namibia Venison and
Marine Exporters (De Beers diamond restricted
area/Wolf/Atlas Bay) Windhoek/Namibia 09264 - 63 203 158
and Mr Albert Brink of Sea Lion Products, furseal@iafrica.com.na
A seal cow
mourns the loss of her clubbed and knifed dead baby
seal pup
There is some good news.
Although the seal slaughter was due to start on 1st July
2006 and although the sealers have their quotas for this
season. Permission to start the slaughter has been delayed
by the Namibian Fisheries Minister, (it might start next
week or the week after). At this time I have no clear
reason why this was delayed, perhaps something positive is
happening - this is the time to really write and put pen to
paper.
Please do so, and together we can end this hunt. Finally,
it saddens me that no-one has taken up the task of staging
a Anti-Seal protest outside the Namibian embassy's, not
even here in South Africa. I know we together can end this
hunt, if you just do your part - I would not be asking if I
did not have full belief in your support.
For the Seals
Francois Hugo Seal Alert-SA
