By Vanessa Mock in Strasbourg
05-05-2009
The European Parliament has claimed a victory for seals with a landmark ban on all seal products in the EU. But indigenous Inuit people have called the move a "catastrophe" that threatens their livelihood, while Canada and Norway have threatened to challenge the EU in court.
Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg overwhelmingly voted in favour of the ban on Tuesday, arguing that it will put a stop to a cruel trade in which hundreds of thousands of seals are hunted for their furs every year, mostly in Canada. In practice, it will also prevent European designer labels such as Louis Vuitton from using seal fur in their coats and accessories.
Responding to demands
"Many countries like the Netherlands and Britain already have ban and we wanted to respond to Europeans' demands to have an EU-wide measure," said Arlene McCarthy, a British socialist in the EU parliament. As she spoke, a short film showing baby seals being bludgeoned to death with spiked clubs and dragged across the ice by hunters was being screened, while dozens of animal rights campaigners handed out seal cuddly toys to politicians and journalists at the parliament.
"Consumers do not want to trade in these products of cruelty," said Rebecca Aldworth from Humane Society International, citing widespread support for a ban even among Canadians.
"Seal ends up all over the place; the fur is dyed and shaved often, so this ban will stop any products from entering Europe in the first place."
Death-knoll for Inuits?
But amid the cheering, a small group of Inuits dressed in seal-fur boots and jackets wandered the steel and glass corridors of the parliament to sound the alarm for their community.
"This is a purely emotional move. These MEPs know nothing about what this really means. This will really hurt us, we have nothing else to live from,"
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The seal trade
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Canada, Greenland and Namibia account for 60 percent of the 900,000 seals killed each year.
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The rest are killed in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Scotland.
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The animals are usually first shot or bludgeoned over the head with a spiked club known as a hakapik.
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The US, Belgium and the Netherlands are among countries that have a ban on seal products.
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But by-products can be used for medicinal research.
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said Mecka Mike, a tiny Inuit woman wearing a traditional white robe, who had flown to Strasbourg from Iqaluit in the far-north of Canada.
Although there is an exemption for seal products from hunts conducted by the Inuit people in Canada or other indigenous communities, they will not be able to sell seal products commercially to Europe.
"We are nature-loving people but the truth is that there are too many seals and they are eating all the fish that we need to live from."
Standing alongside her, another Inuit woman shook her head.
"The truth is that we have arrived here too late. These animal rights people have been fighting for months, but there was nothing we could do to defend our way of life." MEPs, though, said they were not targeting indigenous groups. According to Arlene McCarthy:
"We have sympathy for the Inuits, and that's why we're not banning their hunt, but only the massive trade by Canada, that hunts over 350,000 seals a year. Inuits only have a small slaughter that is not being banned."
International dispute
The issue is threatening to blow into a major political hot-potato, coming one day ahead of an EU summit with Canada, which has lobbied ferociously against the move that threatens an industry worth many millions of dollars. However, MEPs have dismissed its threats to take the EU to the World Trade Organisation as sabre-rattling.
"Canada has not yet taken other countries that have a ban, like the US or the Netherlands, to court. We've drafted this ban in such a way that a challenge could not succeed,"
said Ms McCarthy.
Esther de Lange, a Dutch Christian Demoncrat MEP, also dismissed accusations that this was a crowd-pleasing measure ahead of elections in June.
"This is not an election gimmick. We have been dealing with this issue for very many years, long before the European elections were in sight. Only now we have finally succeeded. This is a democracy and the majority rules."
Tags:
ban,
Canada,
European Parliament,
fur,
Inuit,
MEPs,
Norway,
seals,
trade
Mary,
14-05-2009
- Canada
Awww. What a cute picture of a cuddly furry seal. No - wait. That's not a seal. That's a sea lion. Sea lions are not even found on the Atlantic coast - that is a picture of a Pacific species. The species being hunted on the Canadian East Coast is the harp seal. Whitecoats are no longer hunted -they haven't been for years. You will not be commended by anyone in Canada for accuracy in journalism. Why not start with scientific accuracy? It won't be a surprise for Europeans to learn that Canadians, for the most part, have stopped listening.
Leesee Qaqasiq,
12-05-2009
- canada
When i see stuff like this, it makes me wonder how do the non-natives kill the cows/pigs? Do they inject them with something lethal and then eat it, maybe it's that chemical making them crazy? Are the animals they raise for food pure? Do they waste the hide? Do they have belts, purses all made from plastic? It must be hard to live just on these synthitic materials.
Inuk from Canada,
12-05-2009
- Canada
Ok, first of all to the journalist, it's Inuit not Inuits. Inuit means more than one Inuk. Inuk means one person. When you wrote "...said Mecka Mike, a tiny Inuit woman wearing a traditional white robe..." It doesn't make sense, it should be "....said Mecka Mike, a tiny Inuk woman wearing a traditional white robe..."
Secondly traditionally Inuit don't smack these seals over their heads, it's the Newfoundlanders.
Hey guys, how is veal made? How about any other meat product you eat everyday.
paul,
07-05-2009
- uk
just to put the record straight,sealing was stopped after sea shepherd gathered conclusive video evidence showing the barbaric way seals were killed,this is a victory for the anti-sealers which has taken 34 years to arrive,time now for the canadians to get their fisheries back together so the seals can eat.
Claire Bennetts,
07-05-2009
- UK
About bloody time, need I say more, and I am speaking on behalf of the vast majority of Europeans that want to see this cruel hunt banned for good! A happy day all around! And to Mr concerned Candian, get a life how can you compare war and bashing the heads in of tiny seals????? Get real you fool!!
concerned canadian,
05-05-2009
- Canada
Obviously this generation of europians has no respect for the canadian bloodshed during both world wars. the seal industry is blown way out of proportion. This was a mistake by the EU because canadians are already frustrated at the fact that we have the best banking system in the world, no subprime morage crisis and no housing crisis and here comes europe and the us into recession and we are dragged down even though its not our fault. We are sick of being pushed around by other countries and a ban on europian beef by canada would most likely save eons more animal crualty than this seal ban
