Proposed seal-hunt ban "unworkable"
A proposed European-Commission ban on seal-products traded either within or into the union has been criticised as unworkable by the Parliament's own rapporteur on the issue.
Last year's proposal contains exemptions for products proven to meet animal-welfare standards and for traditional Inuit hunters, and British Liberal Democrat MEP Diana Wallis has described it as "a ban with a huge hole in the middle of it," which could exempt entire countries. She warned that the precipitous drafting risks legal challenges to the EU.
Wallis' proposed mandatory labelling system, which would require that seal-products meet animal-welfare standards, is, however, insufficient for others: Belgian MEP Frieda Brepoels called for a total ban, to "meet the widely-demonstrated concerns of European citizens"; although her acquiescence to a limited exemption for Inuit communities is incongruous with totality.
Greenland opposes the ban, according to government minister Finn Karlsen, on strictly cultural grounds: "Seal-hunting has been part of our culture for a thousand years." This, however, is the same country which, despite permitted to hunt whales only for aboriginal-subsistence purposes, was exposed last year by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) as selling a quarter of its whale-products commercially.
The Parliament's environmental commission discussed Wallis' report on the proposal on January 21; its internal market and consumer protection committee will vote on it on February 17; and the full Parliament will vote in April.
Animals Count strongly opposes all seal-hunting, and does not support claims that killing seals is a necessity for the Inuits and others. Cultural and traditional practices are no excuse for inflicting unnecessary suffering and we urge the EU to vote for a blanket ban on the trade in all seal products.
25 January 2009
Governments called upon to outlaw seal-killing
A coalition of nearly thirty animal-welfare and conservation groups have lobbied parliaments in Scotland and Westminster for a blanket ban on the shooting of seals.
The plea follows the RSPCA's warning that the fishermen concerned could be stripped of their valuable membership of the society's welfare-accreditation scheme, and retailer Sainsbury's promise to phase out suppliers associated with the practice, in the wake of a sharp decline in the numbers of such animals.
One major retailer has privately admitted that its suppliers are believed to shoot at least two hundred and fifty seals a year to protect fish stocks. But the announcement from Sainsbury's is the latest in a series of high-profile initiatives from retailers who recognise the financial incentive to themselves of a more humane approach to profit, in the climate of growing public animal-welfare and environmental awareness.
Animals Count strongly opposes seal-killing on compassionate grounds, irrespective of the steep decline in population, but hopes that alarming figures such as a fifty-per-cent fall in numbers in some parts of the UK in the last five years, and a twenty-five-per-cent drop in other areas in the last year alone, will focus the minds of the governments in a position to outlaw such practices forthwith.
1 December 2008
Animals Count comments on Scottish Marine Bill
Animals Count has provided a response to the consultation paper Sustainable Seas for All: a consultation on Scotland's first marine bill which was issued on 14/07/08. The closing date for responses is 07/10/08. Seal protection is not guaranteed under the new Bill, and the exploitation of fish and other marine animals will continue as profit seems to be valued higher than protection of the marine world. Although 'sustainability' is used throughout the Bill, Animals Count believes more could be done to promote biodiversity.
Download our full response (Word document, 313KB).
6 October, 2008
EU does not back down against Canada in dispute over seal products
When the Netherlands and Belgium decided to ban seal products in 2007, Canada started talks with the EU, which represented the two countries, as the first step of actions under the World Trade Organisation rules to protest against this 'unfair' trade advantage.
This case is the first test case of one nation against another (in this case against the whole of the EU) which decided to ban animal products on the basis of animal welfare concerns. Canada holds that this would be illegal under WTO rules, but the EU is using a clause within the WTO regulations that could allow for moral objections to be taken into account.
As a result of the mounting opposition by EU citizens, Members of European Parliament (MEP's) and UK MP's, on 23rd July EU Environment Commissioner Mr. Stavros Dimas announced a plan to ban seal products. Although Animals Count shares the optimism with politicians and animal protection groups alike, we are similarly concerned as IFAW is about loopholes that allow exemptions for seal products obtained from hunts which meet certain criteria for killing seals.
IFAW's Director, Robbie Marsland, commented: "Only a complete ban can prevent products from these large-scale and inherently cruel hunts from entering the European markets. Harsh and unpredictable hunting conditions make it impossible to properly monitor or enforce so-called humane killing methods."
CTV Canada AM reported that the European Commission's ambassador to Canada, Dorian Prince had said the goal of the legislation is not to ban legitimate commercial hunts in places such as Newfoundland and Iles-de-la-Madeleine. "All we want to do is agree to proper management, proper methods, proper supervision so that we have the guarantee that no animal suffers unduly," said Prince. This biased piece of news further included a quote from a determined Canadian fisheries ambassador, Loyola Sullivan, who vowed to stand up for Canadian hunters, but it did not echo any of the concerns expressed by millions of people worldwide, including those of Canadians.
The UK Trade Minister Gareth Thomas commented "The UK has pressed hard for a European ban on trade in sealskin products and this proposal is welcome news. Cruel and inhumane seal hunting is unacceptable and an EU measure is the best way we can help to end it around the world."
Animals Count hopes the exemptions will be taken out of the proposed ban, and that the EU will follow examples set by The Netherlands and Belgium.
27 July, 2008
European Commission consultation on trade in seal products and a UK EDM re: sealing
Everyone loves seeing seals in the wild and the majority of people hate the sight of seals being clubbed to death. Fur products made from seal pelts are inherently cruel. Approximately one million seals are deliberately killed each year, the majority commercially hunted for their pelts.
In December 2007 the European Union launched an online consultation asking for your views about killing seals. The deadline for responses is 13 February 2008, so act now!
The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) provides more information on seal hunting and guidance on completing the consultation form.
In addition, there is also a new important Early Day Motion EDM 783 'Commercial Seal Hunting and the Importation of Seal Products into the UK' that 'urges the Government to follow the example of [the ban on seal products in] Belgium and the Netherlands and ban the trade in seal products in the UK.' Please write to your MP and urge him/her to sign this EDM.
27 January, 2008