Russia pledges to end its bloody seal hunt
Russia has stated it will end its annual slaughter of 35,000 seals. The Country has now stopped killing very young seals (whitecoats) and has pledged to protect older seals too.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called the hunt a “bloody industry” and said “it is clear that our hunt should have been banned a long time ago.”
Yury Trutnyev, Russia’s Natural Resources Minister has called seal hunting “one of the most inhumane types of hunting in the world, which is banned in the vast majority of developed states.”
SPAG is campaigning to end the commercial slaughter of seals worldwide and is calling for a comprehensive ban on trade in all seal products within the European Union.
Earlier this month, an influential EU committee voted in favour of a ban on trade and rejected proposals for a labelling scheme that would have allowed trade to continue.
However, as Russia is a major importer of Canadian seal pelts, SPAG is calling on President Putin to also ban imports of seal products. If he does, this would be another huge blow to the Canadian sealers and help put a final end to the hunt of 300,000 seals a year in Canada, the world’s largest slaughter of marine mammals.
“This is fantastic news and yet another massive blow to the global sealing industry that profits from the appalling suffering inflicted upon these defenceless creatures worldwide” said Andy Ottaway, Campaign Director of SPAG, “however, there is much more needs to be done to protect all seals from cruel slaughter and we are determined to do so.”
The world’s second largest large seal hunt takes place in Namibia, seal hunts also take place in Norway, Greenland and the UK.
In the UK, an estimated 5,000 seals are deliberately killed in Scottish waters alone each year, by salmon farming and angling interests. Recently scientists reported a ‘frightening’ decline in the number of common seals around the UK coast.
SPAG is calling on the Scottish and UK Governments to create effective legislation to provide seals with the full protection they deserve. Please click here for further details about our ‘Saving Scotland’s Seals campaign and how you can help.
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