Scroll down for Open Letter - Permission to Publish, Paste and Copy
From: SEAL ALERT-SA
Date: July 13, 2008
Dear Cape Fur Seal Supporters,
Still no word from the Namibian government on its sealing policy or population data, so please keep writing to the Prime Minister Nahas Angula nangula@opm.gov.na .This cruelty to seals must stop !
Namibian Sealing
Scientists A Discredit to the Scientific
Community
Cape fur seal pup nursing on its
mother
Until recently Namibian
sealers used to club seal pups to death in August, when they were 8
months of age. Now the majority of seal pup clubbing occurs in
July.
Why is the Namibian Sealing
Quota 90% nursing seal pup based, and why does regulations define
than a seal pup must be < 1 year old, if all the pups are born
collectively in December, and sealing pup season starts in July,
when all pups are aged 7 months - and all still nursing?
When the US introduced the
Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, for all seal species, it
deemed that killing a seal pup nursing or less than 8 months of
age, whichever occurs later, to be cruel. For obviously reasons as
it violated the breeding behaviour of these wild species. This Act
applied to all seal species anywhere in the world.
Cruelty to Animals under
Namibia's own laws and Animal Protection Act since 1962 is a
punishable offence requiring criminal prosecution.
In 1977, United Nations -
Convention In Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) listed Cape fur
seals as an Appendix II endangered species.
In 1983, 27-member countries
of the EU banned the importation of nursing seal pup products from
the Harp and Hooded Seal species. Species which have never been
officially listed as endangered.
In 1987, the Canadian
department of Fisheries and Oceans Sealing Regulations state, the
seals hunted today must be independent, self-reliant
animals. The commercial hunt of nursing seal pups is banned in
Canada.
In 1990, South Africa stopped
commercially clubbing Cape fur seals or their pups.
Namibian government bases its
entire seal clubbing industry on clubbing dependent, reliant on
mothers, nursing seal pups.
Namibian government and
sealing scientists could not care less about world conservation or
animal cruelty, and have continued to award sealing quotas which
are 90% nursing seal pup based.
In a study conducted in 1975
on the stomach contents of the seal pups killed in the sealing
colonies in Namibia, only 8%, contained solid food. 81% of these
contained solid food comprising of crab and crayfish (crustaceans).
Less than 2% of the pups killed had solid fish in their stomach,
all the rest, either had no solid food or were drinking milk.
Namibia claims it is culling
nursing seal pups to protect commercial fish stocks.
Sealers want to harvest the
pups soon after they shed their birth coat which is black and have
slowly moulted into their first coat which is greyish silver, as
this has the most commercial value.
The first coat starts
appearing after 4-6 months of age. The younger the seal pups are,
the easier it is for sealers to herd them together and club to
death. However, as their major commercial market for these seal
pelts lies in the US which has banned nursing seal pup product
imports. Namibian government had to use its scientists to fool the
importing countries.
Its a question of commercial
export profit versus seal cruelty.
Sealing Scientists were tasked
to get around this cruelty "8 month old or still nursing" limit
defined in the US - MMPA Act.
Easy, Scientists
tentatively
concluded that nursing is
no longer obligate (as defined as necessary for the health and
survival of the pup - scientific speak for nonsense) from July
onwards.
After taking the US government
to court, and losing on Appeal. Sealers moved seal product exports
to Europe.
Cape fur seals nurse their
pups constantly for an entire year (December - December), and even
continue into a second and third year.
Namibian scientist Caroline
Kirchner would have us all still believe in 2007 that all pups
are weaned by 1 July, even when a study in 1975 concluded that on 1
August only half the pups were 8 months or older.
Contradicting this on the same day (see above chart from MFMR),
Scientists at Ministry of Fisheries, deputy director of
Marine Resources BJ van Zyl and JP Roux, claim weaning starts
mid-way in July, and continues to October, just to cover
themselves further.
Its all a complete pack of lies and
fabrication and biological nonsense.
Each female pupping cow seal usually
only produces one pup (twin pups are very rare), yet she has 4
milking nipples which can easily support the milking needs of a new
born pup throughout the year (December - December), and the nursing
of a pup born the year previously, even perhaps milking both her
pups for 3 or even a 4th year.
The first video-clip taken at
Cape Cross Sealing Colony on 19 December 2007, proves
conclusively that a seal, that is clearly older than a year
old (who could
even be 2 or even 3 years old), is still very much nursing and
milking on his mother,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYICRnxu13U&feature=email,
with all 4 nipples active (clearly the new-born seal
pup that the mother would have had weeks earlier did not
survive as that pup would have a new born black pelt when born in
December).
The second video-clip, also taken at
Cape Cross Sealing Colony on 4 February 2008, illustrates the
deep parental bonds these seal mothers display over their
young pups, even pups that have died from natural causes, and are
completely dead, as she still tries to defend its dead carcass from
a pack of jackals
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOSK9ENjmSk&feature=email.
The moral of this release, is
that Namibia's sealing industry is cruel in every aspect. Seal pups
are NOT weaned prior to Sealing Season and Seal Mother's will and
do protect and mourn the loss of their young.
Namibia's sealing industry is based
on cruelly clubbing 80 000 nursing seal pups to death - banned
throughout the world by sealing countries and seal product import
countries.
For the Namibian government to
support this CRUELTY as a national policy and defend it, implies
its leadership is immoral and cruel, and hence should be boycotted
as a tourism destination.
Please sign our on-line
petition :
www.petitiononline.com/DPCFS/petition.html and
include your email address for further updates.
For the Seals
Francois Hugo Seal Alert-SA
http://www.youtube.com/user/sealmancam
10 years of Seal Protection and Rescue
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dear All Cape
Fur Seal Supporters,
I have sent an Open Letter to the below
individuals requesting details why Seal Pup Clubbing is NOT an
offence under the Animal Protection Act in Namibia - Francois Hugo
Seal Alert-SA
----- Original
Message -----
From:
Seal Alert-SA
To:
Moses Maurihungirire ;
nangula@opm.gov.na ;
Information@NEWS-Namibia.org ;
spcawhk@mweb.com.na ;
fau@nspca.co.za ;
clairebass@wspa.org.uk ;
jbell@ifaw.org
Sent:
Tuesday, July
08, 2008 7:17 AM
Subject:
Seal
Alert-SA Seeks to Charge the Minister of Fisheries & Marine
Resources, 4 Seal Rights Holders and 140 Seal Clubbers with Animal
Cruelty
Seal Alert-SA, Press Release, 8 July 2008
Seal Alert-SA Seeks
to Charge the Minister of Fisheries & Marine
Resources,
4 Seal Rights Holders
and 140 Seal Clubbers with Animal Cruelty
Francois Hugo of Seal Alert-SA meeting
the Prime Minister of Namibia Nahas Angula, last year
Open
Letter
Permission to
Publish, Paste and Copy
On 1
July 2008, the Minister of Fisheries & Marine Resources awarded
4 Seal Rights Holders and their 140 Seal Clubbers the right to herd
together 80 000 wild seal pups between 1 July - 15 November,
and to club these seals pups on the head until dead, on three
mainland desert beach seal colonies.
This is clear animal cruelty under
the Animal Protection Act of 1962. Seal Alert-SA wants to know why
this offence has never been prosecuted in Namibia?
Under the law, are all Namibian
citizens not equal or does different laws apply to seal
clubbers?
Is clubbing 80 000 seal pups, which
started on 1 July, an offence of animal cruelty ?
This is the largest slaughter of
wildlife mammals on the African continent.
Under the Animal Protection Act of
1962, an "Animal" means "any wild animal under control of any
person". Offences, "Any Person" who, "ill-treats, infuriates,
tortures, maims, cruelly beats, clubs, kicks, goads or terrifies
any animal", is guilty of the offence of animal cruelty.
Deputy-Director of Marine Resources
and the Namibian Ministry of Fisheries BJ van Zyl has stated
that Namibia's seals are killed according to the Seabirds and Seals
Protection Act of 1973, this "Act" states, it is an offence,
"pursue or shoot at or wilfully disturb, kill or capture any seal",
he states further the seal killing is regulated under the Sealing
Regulations of 1976, which states, "A holder of a right relating to
the harvest of seals must identify a group of pups to be harvested,
which must be driven away from the sea and allowed to settle down
before clubbing begins. A Clubber must kill a pup by clubbing it on
the top of the head with a sealing club, until an inspector
overseeing the harvest is satisfied the pup, which has been
clubbed, is dead".
The jurisdiction of the Marine Resources
Act of 2000 ends in regard to the coastline, at "the high-tide
water mark".
Seals are herded beyond this jurisdiction
and then clubbed to death.
It is clear, these Sealing Regulations of
1976, are in legal conflict with the Animal Protection Act of 1962
and the Sea-birds and Seals Protection Act of 1973, and the
jurisdiction of the Marine Resources Act of 2000.
Does the Minister of Fisheries therefore
have a lawful and legal right, to regulate seal killing with a
regulation that causes these various animal and seal cruelty
offences to be committed as a national policy ?
Minister of Fisheries and Marine
Resources, states it is harvesting seals in accordance with
Article 95 (1) of the Constitution, "the utilization of living
natural resources on a sustainable basis for the benefit of all
Namibians", yet Article article 101 states, "The principles of
state policy contained in this Chapter shall not of and by
themselves be legally enforceable by any Court".
So is the Minister guilty of the offence
of Animal Cruelty under Namibia's own internal laws.
Does a "regulation" exceed an "Act" in law
?
Two independent US veterinarians judged
that the sealing on two mainland seal colonies did not attain
the standard of humaneness required by the US Department of
Commerce in 1974. So according to the US Animal Protection
laws the Minister is guilty of this offence.
On 16 or 23 July 2008, 27-member countries
of the EU, will vote to decide whether or not to ban imports from
seal products killed inhumanely, as defined by seal clubbing.
If the EU does approve the ban, will
Namibia stop its seal clubbing policy, as does not this prove
further, that this is animal cruelty ?
As Seal Alert-SA is not a resident or
citizen of Namibia, this organization cannot therefore lay criminal
charges against the Minister or the Sealers in Namibia. Seal
Alert-SA however questions why the Namibian Wildlife Society
(Information@NEWS-Namibia.org ) or the Namibian SPCA
(spcawhk@mweb.com.na)
or the Minister of Justice or Veterinary Society, has not laid
charges of cruelty against the Minister of Fisheries ?
I have spoken to Celeste Houseman, Global
Campaign Manager for the NSPCA (fau@nspca.co.za) who has confirmed it is an offence of
animal cruelty what Namibian sealers are doing. Perhaps, Clare Bass
of Marine Mammals at the World Society for the Protection of
Animals (clairebass@wspa.org.uk), both of whom attended the meetings
set up by the Prime Minister of Namibia in August, last year, can
explain why they have not as organizations legislated to protect
animals from cruelty, have not brought charges against the Minister
in court ? Perhaps too, the International Fund for Animal
Welfare (IFAW) in South Africa (jbell@ifaw.org) and Humane Society International,
could explain this issue a little clearer, as both are campaigning
to end the Namibian Seal Pup Slaughter ?
Is the Ministry of Fisheries statement that
there is no other humane way to kill these seals, an explanation a
legal court of law would accept ? Surely the court's reply would be
"don't kill them", if you do continue clubbing seals, you will be
committing an offence of animal cruelty.
I am no legal expert. I do feel my arguments
above have legal merit. Is it therefore not the duty of the
Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources to get legal
clarification on this, and release this legal opinion
publicly.
Should the Minister simply ignore this request,
does that in itself not imply guilt ?
Should the Prime Minister of Namibia Nahas
Angula (nangula@opm.gov.na)
not just step
in, and call a moratorium on sealing clubbing until this legal
opinion is obtained ?
For the Seals
Francois Hugo Seal Alert-SA
http://www.petitiononline.com/DPCFS/petition.html