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After the 1983 ban, continued calls for more restrictive seal product bans came from MP Tony Banks. It is
very interesting to note that Banks died at the home of long time friend Brian Davies. The same Brian Davies
who founded the International Fund For Animal Welfare (IFAW). Such a thing would be called a conflict of interest
here in Canada and an MP would certainly be given the boot but obviously this is not the case in the jolly old UK.
Banks passed away on January 5, 2006 and by November of the same year Trade
Minister, Ian McCartney was quoted as saying,
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"We are actively looking into the possibility of imposing a ban on the import of listed products of all harp and
hooded seals,"
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By February 8, 2007, Mr. McCartney was calling not only for a ban in the UK but rather an EU-wide ban. A
vulture could not have reacted quite as fast as Mr. McCartney.
February 11 the Canadian government had responded to the move saying it was based on public morality concerns
rather than scientific evidence. Maybe they should have added “grossly hypocritical” and “politically self-serving”
or maybe “blindly ignorant”. Over the past two years I had heard from three separate people that UK fishermen were
unofficially allowed to shoot seals on sight because they are considered “pests”. I refrained from writing anything
on this because I could not find any other sources to back the claims. Recently a story
from the BBC and a press release from the Fur Institute of Canada seem to have done just that.
It is hard to tell who is more hypocritical when deciding between the UK and Germany. The Canadian seal hunt is
proven to be conservation minded and humane while UK fisherman are permitted to take pot shots are seals from a moving
boat. Even if the seals are killed rather than wounded, nothing is used. The Canadian seal hunt utilizes %60 of the
animal with the bones, offal and a very small portion of meat left on the carcass to be reclaimed by nature.
Maybe UK MP’s need to take the time to understand the issue instead of blindly following the misguided request of a
vocal portion of their constituency.
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