Saturday 20 April 2013

WTO Ending The Seal Trade

It was the collective outcry of tens of millions of Europeans that brought the cruel trade in commercial seal products in the European Union (EU) to a screeching stop in 2010.
Now Canada wants the seal fur ban overturned and are asking the World Trade Organisation who oversees and enforces international trade rules, to overrule the EU ban on all seal products in its member states.
Under the present EU regulations, the placing on the market of all products deriving or obtained from seals and since the ban came into effect, it is reported to have cost the Canadian seal trade an estimated CAD$10 million and the commercial seal hunt is nearly bankrupt.
Carino Inc, the sole remaining seal processor in Newfoundland required a CAD$3.6 million Government bailout last year to remain operational and are seeking a similar bailout again this year.
Thankfully, seal hunting is on its last legs and the WTO can drive the final nail into the coffin of this barbaric practise and bring about the end of something that should have disappeared decades ago.

7 comments:

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lucy said...

The difference is you could argue the meat you eat is to stay alive, you will not die if you don't have a seal fur lined coat. The EU ban on all seal products was because if they just banned seal fur, they would still kill the seal for its meat or blubber and claim that the fur was a by-product of killing the seal. This way they have no wiggle room whatsoever.

Nog said...

Maybe that particular seal had it coming...

Lucy said...

Maybe the hunter is doing it a favour because it would be eaten by polar bears or die of disease eventually. Isn't that how hunter logic goes?

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lucy said...

And that's why you never got that Saturday job in the pet shop when you were 16.

Nog said...

I wonder if that photo is photoshoped. I cannot imagine someone doing something so obviously ridiculous. Bashing a seal to death...