Fwd: [Veg-Christian] Seal Alert-South Africa releases Touching Seals DVD to stop the Largest Seal Hunt on Earth

June 16, 2009

http://sealalertsa.wordpress.com/

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Hugo Francois <sasealion

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 09:47:28 +0200

Seal Alert-SA Releases "Touching Seals" DVD to stop the Largest Seal Hunt on Earth

Seal Alert-SA, media release 7 June 2009

DVD copy is free to selected media

Seal Alert-SA Releases "Touching Seals" DVD to Stop the Largest Seal Hunt on Earth

Pic on the DVD cover shows Francois Hugo with just 25 of the more than 60 seal baby pups rescued

On July 1, 2009 - Namibia, will become the largest seal hunt in the world with the slaughter of 91 000 endangered and protected baby Cape fur seals (Larger than Canada, who this past year killed 60 000 seals, even though the quota was 280 000 on a seal population 5-times larger). 90% of Namibia's sealing quota will involve the clubbing to death of baby seals, all still suckling mother's milk.

A process, even stopped by the world's remaining sealing countries of Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia in 1987, that found killing a nursing baby seal to be cruel..

This is after the US banned Cape fur seals product imports in 1972 due to it's cruelty factor, and after being listed by the United Nations - Convention in Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) as an appendix II protected species in 1977, to which 173 countries are signatory to, including Namibia, and after South Africa stopped all commercial culling on the same species without any further population increases, adverse ecological impacts or increased commercial fisheries competition in 1990, and after several mass die-off's from starvation of the seals have occurred between 1994 - 2006, and after Francois Hugo of Seal Alert-SA sat down with the Prime Minister of Namibia in 2007 and 34 stakeholders two weeks later in Namibia, and after sealers completely destroyed and exterminated Namibia's largest seal colony at Cape Cross in 2007, which is also their largest tourist attraction earning over N$4 million, and after, Namibia's two largest

incoming tourists countries, the Netherlands and Germany, both introduced a ban on Cape fur seal product imports, later that same year, and finally, after the EU recently voted overwhelmingly 550 - 49 to introduce a ban on all seal products imports in May 2009.

The pup sealing quota, does not take into effect the natural mortality of pups (unnatural predation by Jackals and from starvation), pegged by Namibia's own scientists at 44%, prior to the start of the sealing season. Therefore the sealing quota awarded to two sealing companies exceeds the number of seal pups left alive on seal colonies. Each year, Namibia exterminates the total pups born each year.

Namibian Minister of Fisheries, Abraham Iyambo reply is, "Namibia to Continue Culling Seals, Says EU Decision 'Emotional' " on the 13 May 2009.

Even though Namibia's own constitution prevents it from commercially culling wildlife, as by definition a seal cull, reduces a seal population, and its Animal Protection Act, finds beating an animal to death a criminal offence.

So what do you do with a country, that is the least populated country on earth, ignores world opinion, scientific or governmental, who exports all it's seal products, as Namibian's have no use for fur skins in a desert, which only creates employment for 120 part-time seal clubbers, which is guilty of cruelly carrying out the largest slaughter of baby fur seals along the oldest desert in the world, becoming in the process, the largest slaughter of wildlife on the African continent. Whilst it ignores the plea's of it's biggest employer, the De Beers Diamond corporation to cease seal culling ?

A country, that has already through its seal culling policy, caused the extermination and permanent extinction of 98% of seals original habitat on offshore islands and is hell bent on driving the entire species 2000km north into extinction, by forcing fur seals to live in climates equal to the tropical Seychelles, in now very warm Angola.

A country who intentionally bans seals from their natural habitat islands, to force them to breed on the mainland in order to club and cull them to death.

You produce a DVD that graphically shows what mankind has and is doing to a seal species found nowhere else on earth, and the only seal species breeding on the African continent, and you show what the life of a Cape fur seal is, colony by seal colony, along 3000 km of coastline spanning two oceans, whilst one individual, Francois Hugo of Seal Alert-SA, tries equally to save and rescue the species, and at the same time the lives of over 5000 seals over the past 10 years, to prevent this ecological species extermination.

Namibia claims its motive for culling seals is based on the consumption of fish seals eat, yet 90% of the sealing quota, is baby seal pup based, where the regulations require sealers to only club to death < 1 year old seal pups. These baby seals, all of which are too young to consume solids or eat fish, and who all vomit up mother's milk in shock when clubbed. In fact, all the fish eating seals of all other age groups are exempt from the clubbing. It is therefore illogical Namibia's claim it is culling seals to protect fish stocks, particularly as Namibia exports 99% of its commercial fisheries to Europe.

The aim of the DVD is to educate and inform each potential tourist considering visiting Namibia, South Africa or Angola, to make an informed decision before visiting, about it's protection of its natural living wildlife, and in particular Cape fur seals.

Recently I appeared alongside US president Barrack Obama in a leading Japanese environmental magazine, in which it was claimed, Francois Hugo and Obama to be amongst the world's emerging leading top 20 environmentalists making changes, among the list is Kevin Rudd Minister Environment of Australia.

You can order the DVD directly from Francois Hugo of Seal Alert-SA via email (sasealion), the first edition is in English, and later editions will be translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, German, Chinese and Japanese. The retail price which includes postage will be SA Rand 200 or USD $ 25 or Euro 20. Each DVD is separately numbered and personally signed autographed by my wife, Nelda and myself.

Seal Alert-SA Postal Address. SEAL ALERT-SA, BOX 221, POSTNET, HOUT BAY, 7872, SOUTH AFRICA

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