The slaughter of seals in Namibia

Every year it is the same heartbreaking story. Come May/June, Namibian authorities aprove the cruellest seal cull in the world. Between 60 000 and 85 000 pupsare herded up with the adults for slaughter. Young pups are mercilessly clubbed over their heads and all over their bodies. Then, whether they are alive or dead, they are stabbed and slashed open with knives. Mothers call out to their dead and injured pups to no avail. In addition, around 6 000 –
7 000 bulls are shot.  

A tiny handful of individuals get wealthy off the lives of these animals. The few jobs this cull/slaughter does provide, hardly pays for proper food on the tables of poor families. Instead, the concessionaires let these poor people do the killing, while they are well shielded from the atrocities.

Namibia’s beaches are rotten with blood, sour with spilt milk and haunted by the ghosts of butchered animals. But the government does its utmost to hide this from the millions of tourists that visit this African country annually. As far as the international community is concerned, everything is sunshine and roses in this beautiful desert country. It was not until recently that more and more awareness was raised to expose the reality of the situation. The whole world was so focused on the Canadian cull, that when word got out that Namibia is guilty of the same crime, people reacted with outrage. They really sat up and noticed when it was revealed that Namibia is the only country in the world to kill nursing seal pups. Not even Canada was that barbaric.

Slowly but surely, with each annual cull/harvest/slaughter, fewer and fewer animals remain to be killed. Each year, the quota cannot be met as there are simply no more animals left to kill. Aerial photographs of the Cape Cross Colony, the biggest seal colony in Southern Africa, show clearly that the colony is on the verge of being wiped out. Yet when the Ministry was presented with the evidence along with witness statements to corroborate the photographs, the Ministry simply intimated the photos were doctored.

But although it is the same old story every year, the ending starts to differ more and more. Firstly the species is being exterminated and secondly, the world is watching and judging. Thanks to the hard work and endless determination and passion of a few individuals, people are turning their backs on this country. The EU parliament has included the Cape Fur Seal in its adopted ban on all seal products. Without these individuals exposing the plight of these animals, the Cape Fur Seal would have been forgotten. This is a true testament that as an individual you CAN make a difference.

(Adapted from material provided by Nikki Botha, founding member of Seal Alert, South Africa, and active member of Fur Free South Africa)

Fur Free is supporting the efforts of organisations such as Seal Alert in raising awareness of these atrocities, by means of eg email campaigns, petitions, fliers and protest action.