DID YOU KNOW?

The killing of seals in Namibia, which began on 1 July 2007 and intends to run for five months, plans to kill 80 000 baby seals. The Namibian government claims that the reason for this is because seals are consuming all the fish. This is NOT TRUE AND THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR THIS! Fish are being depleted by irresponsible commercial fishing companies.

The Namibian Seal ‘Cull’ violates the Constitutions of both Namibia and South Africa. The Government of Namibia is also violating international conservation agreements that it has agreed to honour, such as the Convention In Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) which Namibia ratified in 1991.

Cape Fur Seal products are banned from import in the United States of America Mexico, Croatia, Belgium, Italy, South Africa and most recently in Germany and the Netherlands, which are Namibia’s two largest tourist groups.

The Namibian cull violates the South African and Namibian Constitutions with regard to environmental sustainability. Research shows that the 80 000 quota agreed to by the Namibian government exceeds the total number of pups, and this means that continuing with the 2007 Cape Fur Seal cull will effectively eliminate all young seals.

The methods used are extremely cruel. The Namibian government admits that those employed to kill seals are untrained, poor and destitute. Baby seals are often clubbed many times, then stabbed in the chest or heart and left to die a long and painful death. This has been documented and is available for viewing on YouTube.

Other countries which cull seals are Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia. ALL OF THEM have BANNED the killing of nursing baby seal pups. In Namibia, however, 90 per cent of the seals killed are nursing seal pups. THIS IS OUTRIGHT SLAUGHTER THAT CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED AT ANY LEVEL AND FOR ANY REASON.