Animal rights groups protest seal clubbing

15 June 2011 - 15:20 By Sapa
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Seal culling in Namibia.
Seal culling in Namibia.
Image: Craig Matthews

Members of three animal rights groups protested in Randburg, north of Johannesburg, on Wednesday against the clubbing of Cape Fur seal pups in Namibia.

"The Namibian government has taken a stand that seals are detrimental to fishing populations...and therefore brutally club baby seals to death," Beauty Without Cruelty spokeswoman Anne van Vliet said at the roadside protest in Bryanston.

"We are asking them to reconsider their policy on a culling quota...especially because the seals are on the brink of extinction," she said.

The quota of 86,000 seals a year was valid till 2018.

Van Vliet said 180 unemployed men were given culling jobs between June and August every year when pups were born.

"We are rather advocating sustainable seal-viewing eco-tourism all year round."

The protest was held under the banner of The Seals of Nam, which includes rights groups Fur Free SA and Sea Sheperd SA.

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