Date: April 14, 2008
From: Seal Alert-SA South Africa
Seal Alert-SA, Media Release, 14 April 2008
Namibia - EU
Has Decided to Ban Seal Product Imports
Namibian
seals herded in the background, to await clubbing of
85 000 baby seal pups
The EU's environment chief Stavros Dimas will propose to
ban imports of all seal products resulting from culls where
animals suffer. The ban would apply to all seal
products including furs, skins and health products
including vitamins. Canada, Greenland and Namibia accounted
for approximately 60% of all seals killed in 2006, the
according to the EFSA report.
Namibia's seal cull of 85 000
Appendix II, UN Convention in Trade of Endangered Species
(CITES) is the second largest, most cruelest and is the
only sealing country still slaughtering nursing baby seal
pups.
A practice out-lawed around the
world, even by sealing countries.
Baby Cape fur seal skins were
first exported to the United States, until the US
introduced specific legislation banning these imports in
1972, due to the inhumanness of this slaughter. Namibian
sealers then moved exports to EU. Where since Namibian
independence in 1990, has grown over 700%, from 9000 culled
seal pups to 85 000, whilst the seal population has
declined by more than half.
I am extremely pleased, writes
Francois Hugo of Seal Alert-SA, that this 27-nation EU
Seal Ban will be joining the '72 US Seal Ban. It will
be the death blow
for Namibia's two-man sealing
industry, and their
part-time unskilled 120 seal clubbers.
Its time these cardboard shack
dwelling 'Seal Clubbers' rather protect seals than
slaughter them, and secure deceit jobs in the growing
seal eco-tourism industry that can afford them proper
housing, and I challenge government to make these
opportunities available to them.
It has taken Seal
Alert-SA just under two years to bring about a full EU
Seal Product Import ban for the Cape fur seals.
The question is will the Namibian
Prime Minister publicly announce an end officially to the
'Last Baby Seal Cull' on earth?
I trust Namibia will respond
positively before the start of the 2008 sealing season in
July, as already tourists are reporting the mass death of
numerous baby seals washing onto the beaches, the
alternative would be for Seal Alert-SA to intensify its
European Tourism to Namibia boycott.
See :
www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=443397 and
allafrica.com/stories/200801030803.html
For the Seals
Francois Hugo Seal Alert-SA
27-21-790 8774
link to sealmancam
