L'ANGLETERRE POURRAIT BANIR L'IMPORTATION/PHOQUES

[Animal 0]

The Times. 17 February 2006.
Britain ready to risk rift on seal clubbing.
By Philip Webster

MINISTERS are poised to risk a diplomatic rift with Canada by
backing a ban on the import of seal products for fashion
accessories.
Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and Alan Johnson, the
Trade Secretary, are understood to be sympathetic to calls
for a ban because of international outrage over the slaughter
of baby seals in Newfoundland.
Seal products are also used in the manufacture of sporrans.
The United States has already banned the trade with Canada.
The Canadian seal hunt, due to resume in six weeks, is the
largest marine mammal cull in the world. The Government's
readiness to act was signalled by Ian Pearson, the Trade
Minister, in a debate this week. He said: "Seal-clubbing does
the reputation of Canadians no good at all."
An intensive lobbying campaign is under way by MPs to
persuade the Treasury and the Environment Department that a
ban should be introduced. More than 315,000 seals were killed
in March and April last year. An independent veterinary study
of seal skulls found that more than 40 per cent had minimal
or no fractures, suggesting that the animals were conscious
when skinned. Kill levels today are twice as high as in the
1960s.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-2044562,00.html