Namibia to face a full onslaught of international boycotts
August 4, 2011
Africa, Angelina Jolie, Bernard Esau, Brad Pitt, CITES, Hatem Yavuz, hunting, Namibia, Namibian seal cull, Sea Shepherd, Seal, The Seals of Nam, tourism Leave a comment
The Namibian Seal Cull
November 29, 2010
animal rights, Canadian seal cull, conservation, cruelty, culling, Francois Hugo, Hatem Yavuz, Namibia, Namibian seal cull, Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd, Seal Alert SA, South Africa Leave a comment
![]() |
terrified seals run for their lives |
On the first of July, 85 000 suckling seal pups and a further 6 000 bulls will be killed in the annual cull. For the next 139 days, terrified pups will be rounded up, seperated from their mothers and be violently beaten to death. The colony will be rounded up at daybreak. Pups, bulls and mothers will surrounded and kept away from the safety of the sea. Men with clubs move in and the seals run in fear.
![]() |
The babies vomit their milk up in fear |
The sealers will cut the little ones throats, sometimes while they are still alive. The baby seals are known to be so terrified that they vomit up their mothers milk. The sand on the beach is stained pink from all the blood. Carcasses are thrown onto the back of waiting vehicles and the bull-dozers come in to clean up the beach before the tourists arrive to view the colony.
![]() |
The cruelest of all culls |
![]() |
Bull-dozers clean up the beach |
Loss of habitat, the fishing industry and starvation are major threats to these animals. Between 1994 and 2000 some 300 thousand seals died from starvation. In 1993 the pup production was 164 248 with a sealing TAC quota of 50 850 – (31% of pups) In 2000 the pup production was 147 823 (90% of 1993) with a sealing TAC quota of 60 000 – (41% of pups). In 2006 the pup production was 107 910 (73% of 2000) with a sealing TAC quota of 85 000 – (79% of pups) What justification is there for the Namibian government to increase the quota from 31% to 79% considering the two mass die offs in between where between a third to a half of the population died of starvation? This amounts to a seal genocide!
![]() |
Hatem Yavuz |
![]() |
Francois Hugo |
The Namibian Seal Cull
August 5, 2010
cruel, cruelty, Namibia, Namibian seal cull, Namibian Seal Hunt, seals Leave a comment
This is in Namibia, animals beaten to death
• The Namibian authorities have given permission for 86 000 seals to be clubbed
to death – 80 000 of them nursing seal pups. This is the largest slaughter of wildlife in Africa and it happens every year.
• Independent observers have concluded the killing methods to be cruel and
inhumane, causing unnecessary suffering. (See the SA Journal of Science 2010,
106(3/4.)
• Namibia is contravening its own Animal Protection Act, which expressly forbids
beating an animal to death. Hiding in terror.
• It is not about conservation, since there is solid scientific evidence that the
Cape fur seal is being threatened by extinction, and that it does not adversely
affect Namibia’s fisheries. (The quota of pups to be ‘harvested’ now exceeds
the number of pups alive on the first day of the ‘cull’.)
• South Africa stopped its seal culling in 1990 for the above reasons, and Namibia
was advised by the Commission on Sealing to follow suit.
• The Namibian Government has ignored all pleas, stating that it will not be
prescribed to by anyone.
• Clubbers hardly benefit, since they cannot even support their families. We are
advocating the promotion of community-based, sustainable seal-viewing ecotourism,
which already yields 10 times the revenue generated by the sealing
industry.
• There is no market for the pelts any longer, since the European Union has
placed a ban on the import of all seal products. All the pelts are bought by a
single businessman, Hatem Yavuz. He buys the pelts at US$6, whereas tourists
pay US$12 to view the living seals.
We ask that all people who care about other sentient beings should help
end this scourge by:
– Boycotting Namibian products
– Halting all tourism to Namibia
– Writing to organisations worldwide to gain their support
– Speaking for the voiceless by writing to the Namibian press and the Namibian
authorities, eg to the Namibian High Commissioner in South Africa, His
Excellency Mr Philemon Kambala, at secretary@namibia.org.za
Check out other websites such as the Anti-Fur Coalition
You can also google petitions which are active in your area and inform as many people as possible as to the plight of these poor animals.