EU bans trade in seal products
By IANSThursday, August 19, 2010
NEW DELHI - The European Union (EU) will ban trade in seal products from Friday to protest the “cruel methods” of commercial seal hunting, an animal rights NGO said.
“The EU is banning seal products because it has been proven that products from commercial seal hunting cannot be obtained in a humane way,” said Adrian Hiel, communications officer of NGO International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), in an email to IANS.
“The EU does not have any power to stop the commercial seal hunt because it happens in other countries such as Canada, Norway and Namibia. So all it can do is stop products that are created by a very cruel industry from entering the EU,” Hiel added.
“We are absolutely delighted with this legislation,” said Lesley O’Donnell, director of IFAW, which has been campaigning for 40 years to end commercial seal hunting.
“It is the culmination of years of hard work and we will continue our efforts until cruel commercial seal hunting ends once and for all,” she said in a statement.
The EU ban is significant in that it will prohibit trade in products from all commercial seal hunts, including those in Canada, Namibia and Norway.
In past two years, number of seals killed in Canada has dropped dramatically. “It’s difficult to say if it was the prospect of the European ban that has saved the lives of nearly half a million seals in the past two years, or if this reflects the global lack of demand for unnecessary seal products,” said Sheryl Fink, director of IFAW’s Seal campaign.
“What is obvious is that the Canadian government should take this opportunity to bring an end to the seal slaughter. The continuing efforts by Canada to encourage consumption of seal products in other countries such as China show a government completely out of step with world opinion,” she said.
There has been a groundswell of action against commercial seal hunts in recent years. In 2009, Russia announced a ban on the hunting of seals less than one year of age, effectively ending its commercial seal hunt in the White Sea.
Thirty countries have now banned the sale of seal products, including seven of Canada’s top 10 export markets.
