When it comes to seal hunting, the tides seem to be turning. But in Namibia, 90,000 seals await their fate
In March, Russia banned the killing of seals under one year old, after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called it a "bloody industry." In April, the European Union parliament voted to ban products made from seals killed in Canada's seal hunt. In May, the United States Senate unanimously passed Resolution 84, calling for an immediate end to Canada's annual commercial slaughter.
And now, the Namibian seal hunt may come to an end.
The Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources announced the new seal harvesting season, which officially began on July 1 and ends on November 15, with a quota of 90,000 seals.
But so far, no seals have been killed.
According to the African Conservation Foundation, the seal cull has been put on hold for two as negotiations begin to potentially sell off a major stake in Namibian sealing industry to the seal conservation group Seal Alert-SA, which is in a race to raise the $14 million to buy out the Australian owner of two Namibian seal processing plants.
Namibia is one of only five countries where commercial seal hunting is practiced. The other countries are Canada, Russia, Norway and Greenland.
According to a June 18 BBC story, Canada's seal hunt is "collapsing," with seal hunters blaming "plummeting prices for seal pelts and an impending European Union ban on seal products, which is expected to come into effect in October. Some local fishermen are wondering if this could be the beginning of the end for the centuries-old practice."
The market price of a single seal pelt has plummeted to $12. If the inhumanity of killing baby seals won't stop the industry, perhaps thinning profit margins will.
GET INVOLVED
- Sign a Care 2 petition boycotting tourism in Namibia until the country bans their seal hunt
- Sign a Seal Alert-SA petition to un-ban seals from a UNESCO World Heritage Island in South Africa to provide them with a safe location to breed and live away from the clubbing in Namibia
- Sign a Humane Society pledge to boycott Canadian seafood until the seal hunt is stopped for good
- Sign a Humane Society of the United States letter urging your Senator to co-sponsor Resolution 84 (U.S. citizens only)
- Europe to Canada: Stop Killing Seals (May 6, 2009)
- Senators Stand Up for Seals (April 5, 2009)
- Death Row Baby Seals Find A Friend in Canada's Senate (March 15, 2009)
- The Devil in Human Form (March 7, 2009)












