日前,台灣動物社會研究會發起連署,希望政府(如同美國、歐盟一樣)抵制加拿大海豹、海狗產製品輸台,民眾也拒買,獲得民眾很大回應,康是美連鎖藥妝店也配合從實體及網路店面下架,但政府(包含行政官員與立法委員)的反應卻還沒看見,也許民間的力道還不夠,需要大家加把勁!
台灣曾因國際壓力而開始保護鯨豚及其他作為,因此促進生態保育的進步,現在反過來,台灣應該也可以施加壓力給不人道的國家,要求他們停止屠殺野生動物。
國際壓力對加拿大有效嗎?應該是有效的。4/16網路上一篇報導(英文原文在本文末),說加拿大今年獵殺海豹的規模是近年來最小的一次,這有幾點原因,與國際貿易抵制的壓力也大有關係,我摘譯如下,請參考:
加拿大有6000名海豹殺手沒有出門,造成2010年加拿大殘殺海豹規模是近年來最小的一次。而暖冬造成浮冰減少,獵殺海豹不易也使得已出海的海豹殺手提早回家。雖然今年的收穫不若往年,但仍是一場滅絕天良的屠殺。
長期致力於停止屠殺海豹的保護動物組織如國際動物福利基金會(IFAW)與國際人道協會(Humane Society International),都認為透過經濟手段(譯按:如貿易抵制)是停止海豹製品產業的最好方法,而今年的結果也證明了他們的觀點是對的。
今年開始,歐盟全面停止輸入海豹產製品,這對大盤造成很大影響。海豹毛皮原本賣價可達美金100元或更多,但現在只剩15到20美元。
也因此,今年只有不到50艘船出海獵殺海豹。去年有306艘,而以往曾多達500艘船出海作業。
但加拿大政府及海豹殺手不想就此罷手,甚至無視於歐洲的抵制,加拿大漁業部長Gail Shea還將殺海豹配額從28萬隻調高到33萬隻。
加拿大政府準備改弦更張,將海豹產業重心由毛皮轉為食肉市場,而毛皮同業公會也將行銷海豹肉食譜,弔詭的是,那食譜還是歐盟在3年前出版的。毛皮同業公會同時要擴張亞洲的海豹毛皮市場。(譯按:華人要繼續當殘殺小海豹的幫兇嗎?)
延伸閱讀:
讓牠們悠游!請拒用海豹、海狗產製品(2010.04.15)
要求加拿大停止屠殺海豹並拒用海豹產品 (2008.06.21)
Seal Hunt 2010
(Credit: Humane Society International https://www.humanesociety.org/news/dispatch/2010/04/lfti_closing_time.html)
底下是原文,歡迎參閱:
Canadian Seal Hunters Come Home Early, But The Hunt Was Brutal
The 2010 Canadian Harp Seal hunt was the smallest one in recent years with 6,000 seal hunters choosing to stay at home. And now due to a warm winter and lack of sea ice, the sealers that did venture out are returning early. But even with an unproductive season, this year’s hunt was particularly brutal for the seal pups.
Animal activists like the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Humane Society International/Canada that fight against seal hunts, are in agreement that the best way to stop the seal industry is through financial pressure. And this season proved their point.
Earlier this year the European Union banned all seal imports and this has critically impacted the market for buyers. Seal pelts that once sold for $100 or more, now bring in $15 – 20.
This led to less than 50 ships participating in the hunt. In 2009 there were 306 ships and up to 500 ships have launched in past years.
But the Canadian government and the sealers don’t plan to go down without a fight. And in an act of defiance over the ban in Europe, Canada’s Fisheries Minister Gail Shea increased the quota of Harp Seals this year from 280,000 to 330,000.
“This government is united in its support of the thousands of coastal Canadian sealers who rely on the seal hunt for their livelihood,” Shea said in an interview with AFP last month.
The Canadian vessels will now be returning with less than 15 percent of the quota allotted to them.
Canada also plans to change its focus from seal fur to seal meat and the country’s Fur Institute will soon market a seal cookbook that ironically was published by the European Union three years ago. The Fur Institute also has plans to expand the sale of seal fur in Asia.
Brutality of the Hunt
Both IFAW and Humane Society International/Canada documented that although the hunt was small this year, it was particularly brutal and the sealers did not abide by the Marine Mammal Regulations that protect the seal pups from suffering.
Seal hunters are prohibited from killing newborn pups that are between 12 – 14 days old. They are identified by their solid white coats. The infants become prey when this coat begins to shed during their first month of life. The statistics show that 97 percent of the Harp Seals are killed while they are under 3 months of age and the majority are less than 1 month old.
The Royal Commission on Seals and the Sealing Industry in Canada approved a system for killing the pups that they compare to “as humane a method as used in commercial slaughterhouses.” That of course says a mouthful about the suffering endured by the infant Harp Seals. The method endorses a combination of shooting the seal to injure it and then clubbing it to death with a weapon called a Hakapik.
Rebecca Aldworth of the Humane Society said in her blog, “Sealers are flagrantly violating the few inadequate rules that exist to protect seals. There were no government enforcement officers in the area we were filming. One baby seal was shot in the face, and was shaking her head in agony as she crawled across the ice for several minutes…before a sealer clubbed her. Sealers were not checking to ensure seals were unconscious before impaling them on hooks…and throwing them onto boats. In the 12 years I have observed the commercial seal slaughter in Canada, this is some of the worst cruelty I have witnessed.”
Both activist groups know the seal industry is a “shadow of its former self.” But still tens of thousands of seal pups were slaughtered. They continue to ask supporters to put pressure on the industry by boycotting fur and other seal products.
Click Here to Sign the Petition to Stop Seal Hunting. (Provided by Care2 member.)
Read more: animal welfare, baby seals, seal hunt, harp seals, canada seal hunt
沒有市場需求,供需不平衡必能造成「減產」的因素,還需大家繼續努力。