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Ban on the trade of seal products at the European Union Why it is important that Bulgaria supports and adopts this ban Presented by Ericka Ceballos CATCA Canada Coordinator of the international campaign for the total ban on the trade of seal products at the EU.
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Ban on the trade of seal products at the European Union Why it is important that Bulgaria supports and adopts this ban Presented by Ericka Ceballos CATCA Canada Coordinator of the international campaign for the total ban on the trade of seal products at the EU.
Canada has the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world! IFAW: IFAW About 300 thousand baby seals are slaughtered every year in Canada Field of sorrow
Killing the seal pups • The most popular weapon among the sealers is the hagapik. • Shooting the seals with rifles is another common way. Often the seals die in the ocean trying to escape. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans do not count these ones. Harpseals.org HSUS
The Commercial Canadian seal hunt it’s all about FUR! HSUS
Facts about the seal hunt in Canada • A 98% of the seals killed are between 14 days and 3 months old • Seal hunt is legal in Canada • 42% of seal pups are skinned alive! • Scientists agree current kill levels are not sustainable
The Canadian Government often states that the harp seal population has “tripled” over the last 30 years in order to defend the commercial seal hunt! IFAW IFAW IFAW
Over quota exceeded- no penalties! Harpseal.org
Canada defends the “need” to continue with the commercial seal cull, because the “natives need this hunt to survive…” Commercial hunting vs. aboriginal hunting • In reality, the Aboriginal (native) people kill only the animals that they need to consume and mostly kill only ringed seals! • Aboriginals consume and use most (if not all) of the seal parts Bob Talbot SSCS
Humane Society United States In 2003 the Canadian government announced that they would be killing for the next three years one million baby harp seals (grey and hooded seals too).
The immorality of the Canadian Government • February 2007: over 260,000 Harp seal pups drowned in the Gulf of St. Lawrence due to lack of ice. • The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), decided to go ahead with the seal hunt, but “reduced” the quota from 325,000 harp seals to 270,000, plus 8,200 hooded seals and 9,000 grey seals! • In 2007, the seal hunt ended up with 215,388 seals slaughtered. There were just “not enough seals” according to the DFO. SSCS
Ban of Canadian seal products USA, Mexico, Croatia, Belgium, Holland and Slovenia have adopted the ban. In the process of approving the ban are: The UK, Luxemburg, Austria, Germany, Italy and France.
Why are other European Union countries adopting this ban? • Slovenia, The Netherlands and Belgium implemented the ban, because they see the seal hunt in Canada and Namibia (second largest seal hunt in the world), and the rest of the seal hunt in Europe as totally unnecessary, cruel and unacceptable to slaughter pup seals for fur. • These countries and the other EU member countries that are working to implement the ban, have publicly stated that the trade that originates from the seal hunt must be stopped.
Why the Canadian Government supports the seal hunt • Canada's East Coast, fisheries policies are historically vote generators. • Supporting the seal hunt buy political votes in the East and will not cost political support in elsewhere.
Why it is important that Bulgaria considers the total ban on the trade of seal products at the European Union? • h • Bulgaria -for some reasons difficult to understand- is now in a minority of EU countries who is against this ban. • If voting against this proposal, Bulgaria will be condemning millions of baby seals to their death specially in Canada, cruelly killed for their fur.
Ban of Canadian seal products at the European Parliament • The European Union introduced in 1983 a ban on seal products derived from whitecoats and bluebacks. This ban is not effective in order to stop the current trade of harp and hooded seal pelts in Europe. Seals are hunted when they are few days older and their pelts can be legally traded in the EU, which is one of the largest market for seal products. • The European Parliament passed in 2006, a motion to ban the import of seal products.
For how long this unnecessary and cruel slaughter for fur has to continue ? IFAW IFAW
Thank You ! Много благодаря Bob Talbot SSCS