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
