♥☺ ReLove Plan.et ☺♥: ☆ Canada's Seal Hunt News: EU Fur Ban could be Overturned! ☆

**** UPDATE: VICTORY! ****

On Thursday the European Union court upheld it's three-year-old ban on seal products!! The General Court of the European Union issued a statement saying the existing ban is valid because it fairly harmonizes the EU market while protecting the economic and social interests of Inuit communities. This is the second time the group has lost a challenge before the European court.

Keep up the pressure, the fight isn't over yet! Click the link below to learn more about the hunt and what you can do and you can scroll down to the bottom of this post for petitions

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Every year Canada's Annual Seal Hunt is declining in popularity and reasons for them to continue the horrible annual cull. I wrote a full article about Canada's Annual Seal Hunt (click) and what you can do, so I recommend giving that a read so I'm not repeating any information and for more links to petitions there.

However, the hunt is still going on so it's important to keep the pressure on, especially when things like this happen…

There is some daunting news.

Europe-Wide Fur Ban could be Overturned

There has been a Europe-wide ban on the trade of seal fur and products made from it since 2010. Since the institution of the ban, pelts that sold for £60 (about $90) in 2007 are now worth only about £6 (about $9).

Clearly, this has been a huge step to stop the hunt, or at least slow it down and build the momentum for change. However, it is likely to be overturned this Thursday in a dispute that is setting environmental activists and scientists against fur traders and Inuit from Canada and Greenland.

The Fur Institute of Canada has led the legal fight to overturn the European Union’s 2010 ban on trade in seal products, including their skins, meat and fat. Not a surprise from an organization I deem as pure evil due to the greenwashing lies and other tactics they use to try and make fur popular again.

The argument is boasted with statements that contend that ending the ban is necssary for “maintaining a balance between seals and fish.” Fishermen in Scotland have been eager to see the ban overturned on the grounds that the growth of the seal population has depleted cod stocks around the Orkney and Shetland islands.

However, such accusations have been debunked. Rebecca Aldworth, executive director at Humane Society International (HSI), has dismissed the claims that seals are the reason for declining fish stocks as “irrational and absurd.” Noting that “the largest predators of fish are other fish and the last thing anyone should be doing is promoting a seal cull,” Aldworth emphasizes that having “more species in the sea” is to the advantage of the entire marine ecosystem.

Sientists at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have also disputed the claim that the seals are to blame for declining fish stocks, pointing out that the seals are being used (just as whales once were) as “scapegoats for overfishing abuses.” “No credible scientific evidence” exists to show that hunting Atlantic Canada’s gray seals can help depleted fish stocks recover. In fact, one Dalhousie University researcher points out that cod actually only comprise a “very small part” of the seals’ diet.

The topic in general aggravates me; the mentality that humans are superior to animals and we have a right to every resource and every life. Quite frankly, even if it were true (which it doesn't seem to be) that the seals were eating all the fish, they were here first, we're the ones tramping on their territory. Humans are clearly to blame for overfishing problems, so why pass the blame onto seals?

Certainly the ban has been effective. Since it was passed, the number of seals killed in commercial hunting in Canada (where most seal hunting occurs) has fallen dramatically. 40,000 seals were killed in 2011, a significant drop from the 354,000 in 2006.

We continue to do wrong to animals and to the ocean’s ecosystem. We place the blame for declining fish stocks on seals because we don't want the finger pointed back at us. Really, it's just another push from the fur industry to keep the hunt going and their cruel industry profitable.