Seal Alert-SA
Sent: January 19, 2007
Dear All Cape Fur Seal Supporters,
From an old dilapidated room to a Seal Centre (view from
the galley)
From the dive/shower area. From the Roller-Shutter door
entrance. Our two offices are on top.
Finally I can report
that after 55 days from taking possession of a dilapidated
room, with no roof, crumbling walls, floors, no water, no
electricity - with your tremendous help and support, we
have turned it into Southern Africa's (Namibia and South
Africa) in fact, (excluding a small centre in
Mauritania/north Africa), Africa as a continent (and a big
continent it is), only dedicated Seal Rescue, Protection
and Survival Centre. At least phase 1, is now complete. I
am extremely proud of this seal-feel-good centre.
View from my office and the babies swimming,
with the Namibian weanling on pool wall
At the height of the
dark grey line on the left wall, I would like to construct
a tourist viewing mezzanine level, over the area where the
rescue craft park (only half the width). It will measure 8m
by 2.5m, and should be able to accommodate <20
"bird-eye" viewing tourists. Entrance to the mezzanine
level will be by outside staircase and door. In addition,
his and her toilet facilities. This is phase 3.
The mark of a
successful seal centre is the stamp of approval by the
seals themselves, (and clearly this has already been proven
over and over again), with one weanling who I have named
Tara, who had fled from Namibia's seal slaughter fields
refusing to return to the wild, instead he will flipper
700m down a pier road, past people and cars, just to wait
to be let inside. I keep releasing him and a few days later
he is back.
Mumkin sucking his flipper,
the babies will take 12-months to reach his size
And I believe we are
heading for a world first, the successful rehabilitation of
three baby seals swept off their awash rocks off the Cape,
between the 18th of November and 4th of December 2006.
Never before has a group of baby Cape fur seals been
successful rehabbed, (and it opens up all the possibilities
of re-introducing them back to their indigenous, historical
and extinct islands. So I have named the two boys, Alpha
and Omega, and the little lady JanTara.
It seems my last
newspaper article for 2006 (on the sealers causing the mass
starvation of fleeing seals) has reached the attention of
the United Nations Environmental Programme and was
published on their website. I would therefore like to say a
big thank you to the Namibian Media for their extensive and
effective honest coverage of the seal culling issue in
Namibia. With your help, we can save these innocent and
amazing creatures. I understand from Veda of AnimalsVoice
Magazine that the article on Cape fur seals/culling has
made the cover story.
Paul Watson of Seashepherd
down in the icy Antarctic fighting for the Whales, on his
56 birthday wrote something that I meant to included in my
last update. It reads, " If not for Francois Hugo, Dave
Foreman, Jonathan Paul, Sean O’Hearn and a few others, I
would despair of men. They give me hope for seals,
diversity, integrity and for our beloved Galapagos" and in
his comments on Greenpeace a few days later, " While
Francois Hugo struggles by himself to save South Africa fur
seals with a meager budget, using his own money and
volunteering his time, the International Fund for Animal
Welfare (IFAW) raises millions on appeals for the same
seals yet spends nothing on protecting them. In fact a $10
million dollar bequest recently received by IFAW is being
spent on building a new IFAW office building in Cape Cod".
I felt not only honoured but truly inspired, reading Paul's
thoughts coming from a wildlife leader after 25-years for
fighting tooth and nail, for our beloved marine wildlife -
Thank you Paul.
The below little ship, is
something I would like to acquire to begin the
re-introduction of baby seals back to their historic
islands. If funds are available, I would like to name this
ship in Paul Watson's honour.
This would be phase 4.
Adding to this, I have just read
Animal People December edition (which they post to me free
of charge) - Who Gets The Money - 17th Edition. It
interested me to see African Wildlife Foundation $14
Million, Conservation Fund $69 Million, Conservation Intl
$89 Million, Wildlife Conservation Society $137 Million,
WWF $111 Million. I've worked with wild seals everyday for
the past eight years, I have been sneezed on, peed on,
pooped on, coughed on, lay on, suckled on and bitten
so many times, for all intense purposes we are now
"blood-brothers" having shared our pints of blood together,
and yet not once in over 35 000 hours have I even seen or
sniffed any of these big wildlife $420 million ngo's in SA
rands, thats over 3 billion annually. Not a single sign -
neither has the seals.
Phase 2 needs additional funding.
Here we need to construct a small ramp into the water (on
the left hand side of left pic) - for existing seals on
raft to haul-out be treated and disentangled. We will need
to fence all this lower pier (to keep seals and humans away
from sticking their fingers out) and I will need to lay a
new concrete floor to allow for seal poo drainage.
I hope and trust you
are all pleased that your funds have been well spent. Since
making my first appeal on the 18th October, and acquiring
the building on the 27th November, the following is a
breakdown of the costs and expenses incurred. Building
rubble removal, R2500; Electrical/Plumbing R 2257; Building
Labour R 10500; Equipment/Assets R 15 226; Building
Material R34 625; Fish Purchases R 23 750; Service 4x4 R
2500; Petrol R4000; Telephone R 3 600; Insurance R 3000.
Total R101 700. Funds received in total R 85 000. Shortfall
of about R16 000. I currently have R321 (US$ 44) in my
account, so I am effectively bankrupt. In comparison MCM
built a small (half the size of the jetty above) seal
disentanglement facility at the V&A Waterfront in Cape
Town, a few years back, for a cost of R300 000.
What lies ahead for 2007, is
very much dependent upon, my wife and I, earnings to
generate funds or whatever funds come in.
Phase 2 - R20 000.
Phase 3 - R40 000.
Phase 4 - R170 000.
In addition, if I can secure
the necessary permits, I would like to overall the Beauty
Without Cruelty - Seal Supporters catamaran, and
potentially use it for high speed seal rescues, whale
disentanglement and taking <10 paying tourists to the
nearby seal island on daily trips.
To save a 1000 seal lives a
year, find a way to re-introduce seals back to islands and
campaign hard to end the Namibian Cull, I would in addition
be incurring between R250 000 - R500 000 costs each year.
Should all this be reached, I would then be 100% maximised
and a 1000 seals saved.
Potentially from the tourist
viewing mezzanine level and/or the catamaran boats trips,
Seal Alert-SA could be self-sufficient within one year.
I further intend to name
each area of centre, in supporters names, in each's honour.
As I am sure your funds
are similar to mine, try pestering a friend for some funds
for the seals, for lately the only associates or friends I
interact with is the seals, and as you know the only money
they carry is the fur on their backs.
Mumkin and the 2007 Babies
This just in from Anjo in Holland
www.Sealalert.org,
The Seal Alert clip as shown at our website has received a
presticious price.
Edward, the filmmaker will be travelling to Dusseldorf,
Germany, next week to collect the Adobe Environmental
Award for this clip.
He will speak about Seal Alert at the film festival
there and has assured me he tries to be a good ambassador
for the Cape Fur Seals.
I trust him for 100 percent. This means more publicity for
Seal Alert.
I'm happy about this. Hope you are too. Again a step
forward.
I hope Edward will send us a pic soon, he is also screening
this clip at the San Francisco Film festival.
Funds and the babies prevented me
joining the Italian Film crew in Namibia, but I arranged
for Donna to speak for the seals - I look forward to seeing
the end product.
Jose of
www.ActionAgainstPoisoning.com just
wrote about Singer Maria Daines
Maria is going to do
a song soon, she said for the cape fur seals
:)
Herewith is my banking
details if you can help further.
PS -You all are invited to pop in for a visit, and when
everything is complete we will have an official opening.
To mail a donation directly to Seal Alert-SA:
SEAL ALERT-SA
BOX 221
POSTNET
HOUT BAY
7872
SOUTH AFRICA
HEREWITH IS FURTHER DETAILS FOR BANK TRANSFERS:
ZAR is South AfricanRand
More information to be able to send the money via
internet:
SEAL ALERT-SA ACC : 911 2201 321
BRANCH CODE : 632 005
SWIFT CODE : ABSAZAJJ
BANK : ABSA
SA NAT.CLEARING CODE
BIC: (SWIFT-CODE) ABSAZAJJ
Bank name : ABSA
Address : DELPHI ARCH OFFICE PARK, RAATS DRIVE, TABLE
VIEW
City/code : TABLE VIEW, 7439
Country : South Africa
For the Seals
Francois Hugo Seal Alert-SA
021-790 8774
The Business of Saving the Cape Fur Seals - Part II
Sent: Jan 22, 07
Dear All Seal Supporters,
I am glad that many of you
like the new Seal Centre, and to those of you that sent in
donations - Thank you it really helped.
What lies ahead in 2007. I
see the Marine Mammal Centre in the US receives $USD 6
Million (SA rands R42 million). According to the Seal
Conservation Website www.pinnipeds.org there
are over 79 dedicated Seal Centres worldwide, who
collectively rescue about 3000 seals annually from a
worldwide population of all species of seal of some 30
million seals, sealions and fur seals. That means 0.01%
of the seals get help, with the average centre rescuing
40 seals a year. According to some the costs of seal
rescue per seal is 1000 pounds or 2000 dollars or 14 000
SA rands.
On the African continent,
there has never been a Seal Rescue Facility to assist the
only species of seal (Cape fur seals) found along its
southern tip. With Seal Alert-SA's past rescue of 1000
seals a year, single-handedly our efforts account for 1/3
of the world's total seal rescues. When considering that
Namibian sealers bury up to 900 seals in a day, and a
further 1/3 to 1/2 starves to death (250 - 500 000) yearly,
who each could be rescued, the numbers are staggering. This
is besides the 91 000 being culled, or those thousands
drowning in fishing trawl nets or shot or the 40 000 baby
seals washing off small inappropriate awash rocks. This is
also besides the natural mortality of 30%, caused by shark
attacks etc.
I could find the world's total
seal rescues dying in one day along the Namibian coastline.
In fact, the Namibian sealers cancel the world's seal
rescue efforts in just 4 or 5 days of clubbing.
Clearly something needs to be done
urgently to save this species. It is also a fact, that
these big wildlife ngo's with their hundreds of
millions of dollars wont help, as they have even
bigger amounts sitting in banks earning interest.
So how does one go about saving an
entire species of over 1 million seals? How on earth, does
one ensure that there is a minimum survival rate/growth of
10%? How does one ensure 100 000 seals survive each year
and die a natural death from old age?
Although Seal Alert-SA has been
going since 1999, with initially a handful of support from
Paul, Seashepherd, Herbert, Phil and Les/Madam Marchig, and
then in the last two years, Thanks to all of you, with such
support from people like Earle, Beryl, Jose and Marius,
Paola, Menkit, Nikki, Tara, Diane, Fran, Rosie, Kenny,
Mary, Eddy, Anjo, Damar - I could go on and on - we have
tried to assist Seal Alert-SA. Because your funds, did not
go on administration, investments, salaries or personal
expenses, although only numbering in the tens of thousands
of dollars over the years - we have built up quite an array
of seal dedicated rescue equipment. 4x4, beach buggies, two
rafts, catamaran, high speed rescue boat, two jetski's,
underwater scooter, wetsuits, drysuits and camera
equipment, and now a Seal Centre. In fact, although Seal
Alert-SA is probably the most poorly funded, I do believe
that we are the best equipped in the world.
The problem to campaign and rescue
seals each year costs money, which costs me between R250 -
500 000 (USD $35 - 70 000), most of it in Seal Rescues.
Lack of funds over the years, translates into me being only
25-50% effective, and the bottomline to all this - is that
Seal Alert-SA is basically a sinking ship. Financially my
wife Nelda and I, are destroying ourselves, and we are not
turning the tide (the funds for the really important things
- the big things). Islands, Namibian Culling etc.
My biggest problem in a funding
sense, is that I rarely interact with potential funders, in
fact, I hardly see people at all. My days are spent either
with the seals or out at sea, sometimes months go by, and
the furtherest I have driven in my car is down to the
harbour. I had hoped that some of you, could become my
go-betweens between potential worldwide funders and myself,
but after eight years, one has to finally acknowledge three
things. I am useless at fund raising, I am not very good
with people - and believe it or not, I type with a single
finger. The reality is, unless things change, this species
is not going to be saved, and hundreds of thousands will
suffer terribly each year in and each year out. I will go
bankrupt.
Thanks to you all, I believe the centre
will provide us with the means in future. I believe the
experience the tourists will have visiting the centre (when
it is complete), will be unlike any other, and we will
within the year, have a thriving tourist seal viewing
business. But, we need to complete the centre first, and
make sure its truly operational. Herbert of Seashepherd,
recently wrote, Congratulations to the progress made on the
seal centre. To create a viewing facility will certainly
become a tourist attraction which hopefully will
generate some income. I also read with interest about
the millions collected by the green corporations of the NGO
world. It saddens me and I find it totally unacceptable
that so much is collected and so little achieved by those
who make money out of our environment's misery. Our own
position at this point in time is that we owe in excess of
US$ 1.100 000.- on the purchase of the 'Robert Hunter'
which currently is deployed to the Antarctic waters along
with the 'Farley Mowat'. Had we hundreds of millions, we
could virtually guarantee to shut down the Japanese whale
and dolphin slaughter for good.
Perhaps this is my problem, I always aim
for the minimum. Hell, if I had just one million rand (USD
$140 000), I know I could save the entire Cape fur seals. I
believe the centre will give me that means, but we still
need, over and above my annual costs of (R250 - 500 000),
approximately R60 000 SA Rands or less than USD $10 000.
Paul Watson abroad the Farley Mowat has
just informed me,
Dear Francois,
We are down here in the Ross Sea looking for whalers.
I wanted to follow up with you on our offer to support you.
We had a Board meeting on December 31st and I put this
forth as a motion.
We decided that we would like to take this on as a project.
What we would like to do is to begin on April 1st.
We would hire you at $35,000 U.S. per year. We would then
organize a fund-
raising project with our development director Michael Moore
to raise an
additional $40,000 U.S. per year to be directed towards
your work.
Our goal is to raise and provide $75,000 a year towards
your efforts to protect
the South African Fur Seals.
Instead of hiring you as a Sea Shepherd field agent we
would like to cite Seal
Alert as a project supported by the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society.
Our goal is to remove some of the time and effort you put
into fund-raising and
allow you more time for the seals, both to rehabilitate
seals and to oppose the
slaughter in Namibia.
Let me know if this project meets with your approval.
What would be required of you in return would be to provide
photos, updates and
an annual accounting for funds received.
Sincerely
Paul Watson
Way back in 1999, when my
wife and I were living on an old wooden trawler, not
knowing what Seal Rescue would entail, whilst the
authorities were screaming down our neck, arresting us,
defaming us and confronting our every move - Paul and
Herbert of Seashepherd, out of the blue stepped in with
support, and a rubber-duck to help rescue seals, and the
rest as you know is history. Like then, when we needed
support the most, Paul was there, and now eight long years
later, once again. Its time Seal Alert-SA gives Paul a
medal instead of Paul giving me one.
So in April, thanks to
Seashepherd, and each one of you, I will be funded to get
the job done. I can rescue my thousand seals, and save
their precious lives, and have funds to go after the
Namibian sealers and the banning from islands, drowning in
trawl nets and illegal shootings. Did you know, all footage
that exists of the Namibian clubbing, comes from a 15
second tape, (the time it took to turn off the camera),
when Namibia held a staged media day, for them to witness
the "controlled" clubbing. As the clubbing started, cameras
were ordered turned off. Although sealing has raged on for
decades, and where millions have been slaughtered, this is
all we have. The reality, over the 150-day annual sealing,
with fleeing and terror, is something that has never been
recorded. Cleverly the Namibian Ministry allowed a
controlled cull to be witnessed, which is clearly not
reality.
So in this my last appeal, as
Seashepherd is already in debt for $ 1.1 million, I ask if
we can make one final push, to complete the centre (for the
tourist viewing facility). I would like to ease this
financial burden to Seashepherd as much as possible, and I
know the Seal Centre, will give us that means.
We may be few, but we are indeed mighty.
Lets make 2007, the year of the Seal.
PS - Some of you have enquired about have I changed my
views on a single pup bond. Not at all. Omega has bonded
and answers my call. Alpha wants to bond, but refuses to
answer me. Alpha tries to displace Omega but he will have
none of it. Little JanTara, just hangs on the side-lines.
For the moment, we have a working system, how the
non-bonding will effect JanTara and Alpha in the months to
come, is yet to be discovered. At the moment, we have three
adorable, happy, healthy baby pups - and if I can get them
all through, it will really make my years of effort
worthwhile.
PPS - You can also send cheques direct to my postal
address.
For the Seals
Francois Hugo Seal Alert-SA
