WTO Upholds Ban of Seal Products in the EU!

A round of applause for the World Trade Organization please! Ruling once again to uphold a ban on the trade of seal products in the EU, the WTO is getting us all one step closer to ending organized seal hunts, showing Canada and Norway that the EU does not wish to patronize such systematic cruelty to animals.

Canada and Norway just can’t seem to accept the fact that no one wants to buy their seal products anymore! My goodness, this is the second appeal filed to the WTO to be turned down, a clear message that frankly, Canada and Norway, the EU is just not that into you…or your organized seal hunts.

It’s no surprise that the Canadian seal hunt is on the way out, and has been for sometime, but this action solidifies the fact that despite how much Canadian fisheries hold their breath and stomp their feet, they’re never going to make seal pelts “cool” again!

According to the IFAW, this ruling by the WTO Appellate Body, “confirms that animal welfare concerns are a legitimate reason for WTO members to regulate trade.”

Seal hunts are considered a “tradition,” that have “scientific” grounds to help control the seal population, an effort to restore the number of fish available for commercial fisheries. Can we get some eye-rolls here please? I really think we should confiscate the words “tradition” and “scientific” from anyone who participates in an organized hunt of animals because they’re ruining perfectly good words for everyone else.

By and large, scientific evidence (I mean real science here) points to unsustainable fishing practices like overfishing and bycatch as the reason why fish populations are disappearing…not because of seals. Not only that, but the hunt is costing more than the profits from seal pelts because many countries have chosen to follow the EU’s example and shut their markets to seal products.

So, since quitting while their ahead is pretty much long gone from this situation, I think if Canada and Norway were to simply bow out of the seal hunt game now they could save a lot of face before next year’s appeals are shut down.

Image source: Ian Clapper/Wikipedia Commons