Some good news concerning the war on fur and seal hunting. Back in 2006, Swedish politician Carl Schlyter went along with the Humane Society International to observe the vicious seal hunt by the Canadians. I reckon that was enough to move him to sponsor a Written Declaration in the European Parliament, calling on all 27 EU member nations to ban the sale of seal fur pelts and other seal products. It passed. 425 Members of the European Parliament endorsed it, a record level of support. The latest good news is that the European Commission reacted by adopting a proposal to ban most trade in seal products within the European Union. If this ban goes into effect, the seal hunters of Canada will lose a big chunk of their market. We're talking death knell here, but we should be guardedly optimistic about this ban. It ain't over until its over. I remember when a seal-hunting boat capsized earlier this year, killing most of its crew, I screamed karma! Well, this bit of news from the EU brings on the same euphoric feeling and a big smile on my face.“ The people of Europe and the European Parliament will accept nothing less than a total ban. We intend to close our borders to seal products completely to ensure the EU plays no role in perpetuating the cruelty of commercial seal hunts,” said Neil Parish, U.K. Conservative MEP and President of the European Parliament's animal welfare intergroup.
“People across Europe have called for an end to EU trade in products from commercial seal hunts for decades,” said Danish Socialist MEP Dan Jorgensen. “This announcement is a giant step forward in realizing that goal. I'm sure that the Parliament will do everything in its power to shut our borders to these products of animal cruelty.”
Comments