GLORIA GALLOWAY

OTTAWA — Animal welfare activists will stage demonstrations across Europe tomorrow to put pressure on the European Environment Commissioner to ban the import of Canadian seal products.

“Animal welfare organizations all over Europe are going to have a simultaneous press events,” Steven Blaakman, a spokesman for the Eurogroup for Animals, said in a telephone interview from Brussels yesterday.

The groups have been armed with fresh footage of the seal hunt that is continuing, albeit slowly, on Canada’s East Coast. The videos were obtained over the past weeks by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Human Society International.

“Animal welfare organizations are going to use the new footage, new images of this month’s hunt to show that it can never be done humanely,” Mr. Blaakman said. “Even if you ban the axe, even if you use rifles, it still can’t be done humanely.”

Stavros Dimas, the EU environment chief, has said that he would ban the import of all seal products from culls in which animals suffer.

Belgium and the Netherlands have already banned the products but a market remains in other European countries.

Mr. Blaakman said tomorrow’s demonstrations are meant to push Mr. Dimas to act.

“Obviously images always work very strongly. And we just want to show people what actually happens,” he said.

“The Canadian traders say ‘oh, it is being done humanely, there are new rules, there is talk over abolishing the axe.’ Even with rifles, it’s difficult to kill them instantly. They still suffer. And I think if people saw it they would agree with us as well.”

But Loyola Sullivan, Canada’s ambassador for fisheries conservation, said the images are deceptive and misleading – especially those that suggests seals are being skinned alive.

Seals have a strong swimming reflex and, for as much as 45 seconds after they are dead, their body continues to make those types of motions, Mr. Sullivan said.

There may be instances where seals are killed inhumanely, he said, but they are isolated and they should be reported to the federal Fisheries Department.

Studies also show that only 95 per cent of cattle are killed with the first blow, Mr. Sullivan said, and the rate is much less for hunted animals such as deer and waterfowl.

“So if we are going to apply isolated cases there, I think you’d better be prepared to stack up to the killing of every animal in the world, whether in the wild or domesticated,” he said.

Mr. Sullivan said he has met with the most senior officials of the European Commission to try to prevent the ban from being imposed.

“We’ve had 11 different meetings with members of the European Parliament to give them the facts in this case,” he said, “because this is an issue that is totally misrepresented, taking isolated incidents and trying to tell people around the world that it’s what’s happening in all the cases.[+]

source:CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc.