October 5, 2011
pjdickens
Activism, Africa, Boycott Namibia, Hatem Yavuz, Namibia Seals, Pat Dickens, Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd, The Seals of Nam
The beginning of September I was fortunate enough to make representation on behalf of The Seals of Nam to the Namibian Government regarding their annual seal cull.
Part of my presentation included handing over a petition with over ten thousand signatures from people supporting a boycott of Namibia and requesting the Government to immediately end the slaughter of 91 000 seals each year (the largest slaughter of wildlife on earth) This was a massive success, as it certainly got the tourism industry very worried.
The problem with the meeting was that the Ombudsman, who is to make a decision regarding the future of this barbaric practice, failed to give any clear indication as to when he will make decision. He implied that it would be before September 2012. Not good enough. This would allow for another season of slaughter and consequently another 91 000 animals brutally and savagely bludgeoned to death.
The next step is to petition the ombudsman into placing an immediate moratorium on ALL seal culling activities until such stage as he has made his decision. Clearly, the seal cull in Namibia has been shown to be not only an animal rights issue, but it also impacts on the economy. The workers involved are being exploited to such an extent that they live in makeshift shacks while an elite foreigner, Hatem Yavuz, reaps millions from his fur businesses. We have also produced Namibian legislation, such as the Animal Protection Act and The Marine Resources Act to show that the annual massacre is in contravention of Namibia’s own laws. It is ILLEGAL.
YOU can help us getting this moratorium passed. Please sign the petition by clicking HERE
June 30, 2011
pjdickens
Africa, animal rights, Animal testing, aphrodisiac, Boycott Namibia, Charlize Theron, fur, habitat loss, IFAW, Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd, seal culling, seals, South Africa
Tomorrow the annual slaughter of thousands of seals is set to begin in Namibia. I am getting a lot of people asking me the same questions and how to respond to various counter arguments. In order for you to understand the complexities, and to put the whole thing in perspective, I have put this note together. Please feel free to use, tag and share.
The Seals are eating the fish. Their numbers need to be controlled.
What do you expect them to eat? Lettuce?
- The seal population has dropped from over 2 million to less than 850 000. They are an endangered species, appearing on both Appendix II of CITES as well as on the IUCN Red List. They have a natural mortality rate of over 30% in the first few weeks of being born. 90% of their preferred habitats of small off shore islands have been wiped out in the last 60 years. They have suffered several mass die offs, the most recent being in 2006 where an estimated 350 000 seals died from starvation. This is the largest die off of any marine mammal in recorded history. Cape Fur Seals will normally breed every third year. By killing the baby at seven months, the seal cows will breed EVERY year. If the seals are eating the fish, why are they beating baby seals to death? These juveniles are still suckling from the teat and only begin to eat solids at around 12 months. Is it simply coincidence their soft pelts are more valuable??
- Since independence, the Namibian government increased its annual fishing harvest from 300 000 tons to 600 000 tons without doing any sustainability studies. At the time, the colony stood at well over million, and you can ask any avid fisherman, fish were PLENTIFUL in Namibia. The annual slaughter then killed 30 000 seals. Now, the population stands at 850 000 seals, there are no fish and they slaughter 91 000. This makes no sense. They are not doing this to protect fisheries. This is a blatant case of gross mismanagement of resources based on economic greed. When SA ended our seal culling policy in 1990, our own fisheries were up in arms. But, SA fishing industry has seen nothing but positive growth.
The best way to control their numbers would be to end this slaughter immediately, give the seals the protection they deserve and allow the population to stabilise and recover.
The Slaughter provides much needed employment and is an important industry for Govt revenue.
The slaughter of seals in Namibia is not an industry. It amounts to nothing more than a small business. If a pelt retails for $7 and the govt get $2 of that, the equation is simple. US$2 x 91 000 seals = $182 000. Grannies knitting circle can do better.
- When the annual quota for slaughter stood at 30 000 seals, 160 people were involved in the clubbing. The quota now stands at 91 000 and only 81 people are SEASONALLY employed for 4 months of the year. They earn less than R50/day. (Around US$8 per day) A seal pelt sells for US$7 It takes 6 pelts to make a coat. These coats sell for US$30 000.00 The money goes to a foreign Turkish businessman who sucks the money OUT of Namibia so he can live the high life in Australia. There is no profit sharing scheme in place. The workers live in tin shacks in shanties in Henties Bay. They cannot even feed their families. Drug and alcohol abuse is rife. Domestic violence is common. Beating hundreds of baby animals to death each day is an assault on their human dignity. They have no recourse to stress and trauma councelling.
- A medium sized hotel, with tours to the colony, sight seeing etc can employ as many as 1000 people. All year round. Niche markets can be developed for seal guano as fertilizer, conservation initiatives developed, skills training, job creation. Models based on eco-tourism show that 80 x more revenue can be generated with subsidary industries being developed. But no; Namibia will carry on violating its own laws to get a benefit of less than $200 000 in revenue.
Your decision to boycott has back fired. Namibia has now banned media from covering the cull and a boycott is unfair to the people of Namibia.
Backfired? Don’t be naive! This is an incredible VICTORY!
- Boycott was NOT our first option. We began this campaign by first looking into a broad spectrum of alternatives. We approached the Namibian SPCA and asked them to intervene. To our shock and horror, it turned out they do not believe a seal is an animal and they publicly condoned the cull. We turned to the Ministry of Fisheries. In the face of no scientific evidence, the Ministry blamed the mismanagement of their own resources of the seals. Respected organizations from around the world pleaded with the government, the Ministry of Fisheries, the Directorate of Environmental Affairs and the Department of Environment and Tourism. Francois Hugo met with the Prime Minister, campaigns got no-where. Individuals wrote letters to Namibian embassies around the world. Despite an EU ban on seal products, the seals continued to be slaughtered and journalists were getting beaten up and detained on non existent laws. After exhausting all possible angles, we found we were left with no other alternative but to institute an economic boycott.
- Namibia are feeling the pressure. They have responded with a media ban. This is GREAT! I am absolutely thrilled! Firstly, it shows that the boycott is having an effect. It has got the Namibian Government to react. Now we have yet ANOTHER avenue to attack them with. Not only is this an animal rights issue, where Namibia are contravening their own animal protection act, this is also a human rights issue. Namibia are violating their media laws and the freedom of speech. It does not mean the media is out of the picture. On the contrary, by the very fact that Namibia has put this blanket ban on the media, more international media will demand to know what is going on.
- When South Africa was under Apartheid, we were hit with boycotts. This was done to generate media awareness and force a change in the status quo. Sadly people in South Africa were affected even though they did not support the government policy. While we regret this “collateral damage” we implore the citizens of Namibia to demand that the government change its seal culling policy with immediate effect. It is costing Namibia untold millions. It is tarnishing the reputation of a fantastic country and is crippling an already unstable economy. If change comes from within, the slaughter will be ended a lot sooner than from external pressure of foreigners.
The slaughter of seals is about maintaining balance. It is a conservation initiative.
Get real!
- The removal of any apex predator from the food chain goes against all scietifically proven and internationally accepted conservation practices. The fact that hundreds of thousands of these animals are bludgeoned to death, even though they are endangered, is nothing short of foolish, iniquitous, barbaric and savage. CITES does allow for a sustainable harvest. The conditions to this are that the harvest falls under the juristiction of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. This is not a sustainable harvest. It is a commercial harvest, as the slaughter falls under the Department of Fisheries. Here AGAIN, Namibia are contravening their own laws. The juristiction of the Department of Fisheries is the off-shore islands, the sea, the sea bed up to the high water mark. Slaughter takes place on a reserve, 150 meters ABOVE the high water mark
Have you ever been to see the colony or witnessed the slaughter?
- No. By the same token, one does not need to have survived Auschwitz in order to know German Nazi concentration camps were horrific, despicable and vile.
Your argument is flawed. It is based on emotional reasoning, not scientific fact.
The only people who have no scientific fact are the Namibian Government. Not a single publication of theirs in support of the slaughter has been acceptably peer reviewed using independent sources.
- Please refer to the following links before you make such groundless accusations.
SA Journal of Science 2010, 106(3/4),
Thanks
May 5, 2011
pjdickens
Air Namibia, aphrodisiac, Beer, Boycott Namibia, Cape Fur Seal, de Beers, Diamonds, Karakul, Namibia, seal culling, sex, Skeleton Coast
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| Seal, skinned & left to rot on the ice floes |
With all the hype surrounding the Canadian seal cull, regular readers of this blog will know I decided to focus my attentions on the lesser known, but far more violent and cruel, Namibian seal slaughter. I began an intensive campaign called “The Seals of Nam” to spread the word and hopefully draw more attention to this heinous annual onslaught on the Cape Fur seals. Each year, 85 000 baby seals, still nursing from their mothers teats, are savagely beaten to death on the beaches of Namibia. Their pelts are sold for a paltry US$7. A further 6 000 bull seals are shot at point blank range so that their penises can be used to make an ineffective aphrodisiac. Read further and join me in fighting this madness.
When I first began, I approached Francois Hugo, a man many believe to be the worlds leading expert on these animals. I informed Hugo of my intentions, not only with regards to an awareness campaign, but also to set up international protests and to even go so far as to institute an economic boycott of Namibia. Initially, it appeared as though Hugo was in favour of my plan. He willingly provided me with information and encouraged and supported my efforts. I used some of the info he provided me with on social media sites and credited him accordingly. However, for reasons still unclear to me, Hugo abruptly changed his tune. He accused me of stealing his info and labelled me with all manner of things. In his eyes, I was relegated to persona non grata, and (quoting) “a stupid prick behind a keyboard.” He publicly let it be known that he thought protests and a boycott were a complete waste of time. HIS plan was the only solution to ending the cull. Basically it entailed giving him vast quantities on money. Some US$16 million if I am not mistaken. Personally, I find this amount rather distasteful and amounts to nothing more than emotional extortion.
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| Boycott Namibia |
Never one to be shy of controversy, I did not allow his personal attack to dampen my enthusiasm for the project I had come to embrace. On the contrary, it strengthened my resolve to find an alternative solution and I began to achieve a certain measure of success. Protests sprang up all over the world, and top notch organizations such as Sea Shepherd, Fur Free SA, Beauty Without Cruelty, Bite Back, Seal Pup Defenders and the International Anti Fur Coalition sprang to my aid. Within a matter of weeks, we had celebrities endorsing our campaign and media were (and still are) reporting on our plans to BOYCOTT NAMIBIA . I am forever indebted to these organizations and cannot begin to thank them enough for their massive contributions.
But how can YOU, the reader of this humble blog, predominantly from countries FAR removed from Namibia, possibly get involved? Well, we have put together a list of simple actions that would undoubtedly help the cause.
To find out which companies are the major contributors to the Namibian GDP, who you can write to and how you can support the boycott, CLICK HERE
To find a list of things you can do to support us further, CLICK HERE
to go for their coffers
March 19, 2011
pjdickens
animal rights, Beauty Without Cruelty, Bite Back, Boycott Namibia, fur, Paul Watson, Uncategorized
Ok. Been a while since I last blogged, with the past few days being extremely busy. My campaign “The Seals of Nam” has taken off quite nicely and much positive feedback from the website. News articles and blogs are starting to publish the horrors of the Namibian seal massacre (the largest slaughter of wildlife on earth) and many are joining me in the call to BOYCOTT NAMIBIA.
I am absolutely thrilled with the support I have got and need to make special mention of and thanks to BITE BACK in Belgium for staging protests outside the Namibian embassy, FUR FREE SA as well as well as BEAUTY WITHOUT CRUELTY and SASSI for all the tremendous effort they put in. The media campaign has turned into a major success with local South African celebrities lending their voices to the campaign.
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| Bite Back protest in Brussels |
ANIMALS AUSTRALIA will be demonstrating in Brisbane and although Sea Shepherd are not a protest organization, our CEO Steve Roest has granted the South African chapter to stage protests later in the year. These will take place in Cape Town and Pretoria. I also hope to involve other international chapters so as to increase awareness to the plight of the Cape Fur Seals and add additional pressure on the Namibian government to end the slaughter. I would also like to thank Sea Shepherd in particular for publishing my article on their website and Facebook pages. The amount of awareness this has generated has been phenomenal.
If you would like to know more about the campaign and how you can help, with links to petitions and who you can write to etc CLICK HERE
If you represent an organization and would like to join us in an official capacity, you can send us an email by clicking HERE
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| This baby seal was savagely beaten. It then had its throat slit while it was still alive |
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