Russia bans import and export of seal skins
December 20, 2011
Russia, along with Belarus and Kazakhstan, recently banned the import and export of harp seal skins. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) reports that this will be a tremendous step toward ending commercial sealing for good. Russia had been receiving approximately 90 percent of Canadian seal product exports, and hopes that this will serve as a wake up call that the industry is dying out.
"Russia ended its own hunt of harp seals in 2009, after listening to the concerns of the people who felt it was cruel and unnecessary slaughter," said Masha Vorontsova, the director of IFAW Russia. "We are extremely pleased that the Russian government has taken the next logical step by banning all trade in harp seal pelts from other countries as well."
Animal rights activists can make calls to Russia to talk to their friends about the effects of the new ban in the decades-long battle to put an end to the slaughter of innocent seal pups.