Urge the European Union to Ban All Seal Products!

Every year, starting at the end of March and lasting for about a month, hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals are bludgeoned, shot and skinned for their fur off the ice floes in Eastern Canada, where this video was shot. Some veterinarians estimate that up to 42 per cent of the seals are skinned alive. The majority of the fur resulting from the largest marine-mammal slaughter on the planet goes through European ports before ending up in fashion markets in Europe, Russia and China.

In September 2006, a Declaration of the European Parliament to ban seal products in all 27 countries in the European Union was adopted. By this summer, European Commissioner Stavros Dimas is expected to draft legislation defining limitations of seal-product trade in the EU. A total ban on seal products could mean that hundreds of thousands of baby seals would be spared from the horrifying fate of being bludgeoned and dragged to their bloody deaths.

Please join us in urging Commissioner Dimas to follow in the footsteps of the US, Mexico and Croatia and draft legislation for a total EU ban on seal products.