Save the Seals! European Commission to Reassess Seal Fur Import Ban

Save the seals! In 2009, the European Union made a landmark decision to protect seals by banning the importation of seal “products” (that is, items made of fur stolen from these violently slaughtered animals). Now, for the first time in 15 years, the European Commission will evaluate the EU Seal Trade Regulation – and if the ban is weakened, seals could be in grave danger. PETA entities are encouraging the agency to keep the ban in place and maintain the strength of this vital, widely supported measure.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Why Is the EU Seal Trade Regulation Important?

The regulation was triggered by Canada’s commercial seal slaughter. During these massacres, humans often shoot or bludgeon seals, impale them in the eye with a metal hook, and drag them across the ice before skinning them. These methods of killing seals haven’t changed since the legislation was introduced 15 years ago.

Studies show that the vast majority of EU citizens support the ban. This legislation has been upheld by the World Trade Organization and the European Court of Justice on the heels of a relentless campaign by PETA entities, which included – among other actions – enlisting celebrities such as Jude Law, Pamela Anderson, Joan Jett, and Iggy Pop to support the ban. When the EU’s lower court rejected a challenge to the regulation, it found that “the protection of animal welfare is a legitimate objective in the public interest”.

Since European bans were introduced, it’s estimated that the slaughter of seals has decreased by about 90%.

PETA Germany wrote the following in a letter to the European Commission:

The claim that seals are clubbed to protect a “depleted fish stock” is just a smokescreen. The scientific community has concluded that the true cause of the depletion of fish stock off Canada’s East Coast is human over-fishing, similar to what’s happening in waters around the world. Blaming seals for disappearing fish is a convenient way for the fishing industry to divert attention from its irresponsible and environmentally destructive practices. Harp seals, the primary target of the Canadian seal slaughter, eat many species – only 3% of a harp seal’s diet is commercially fished cod.

Sealers in Newfoundland and Labrador – where Canada’s commercial slaughter takes place – are fishers who earn only a small fraction of their income from the massacre. The ban includes an exception for products derived from traditional subsistence hunts by Indigenous communities. Any difficulty with the exemption stems from a lack of communication and support on the part of the Canadian government and should not be linked to the EU ban itself.

Speak Up for Seals

PETA Germany is submitting a comment to the European Commission and PETA entities are calling on supporters living in the EU to submit their own. Please send a message to the European Commission before 7 August urging it to continue to protect seals.

Urge Canada to end its shameful commercial seal slaughter: