SAVING SEALS OF NAMIBIA

By Alice Bruckenstein
Contributor
Compassionate Animal.TV

Seal Alert-SA, established in 1999 by Francois Hugo, is a one-man seal rescue organization based in South Africa. Over the past ten years, Mr. Hugo has been involved in negotiations with government organizations, corporations and private individuals in an attempt to end the slaughter of Cape fur seals off Namibia’s coast, as well as single-handedly rehabilitating scores of seal pups who would otherwise not survive without his intervention. Hugo was instrumental in the inclusion of Cape fur seals, at the 11th hour, in the recent EU ban on seal products.

Now an opportunity has arisen to end the killing of these seals, which are listed as endangered by the United Nations – Convention in Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). A deal has been struck with Hatem Yavuz, who represents the Namibian sealing industry and owns an Australian-based company which is the last remaining buyer of the pelts. Hugo says, “I have received a signed exclusive agreement to completely buy-out the entire Namibian sealing industry, lock, stock and barrel and thereafter shut it down.” The deal would include all seal industry-related structures and equipment as well as rights and licenses. He states that it’s “a once in a life opportunity to save an entire wildlife species.”

The annual seal cull was scheduled to begin July 1st and lasts 139 days. The price of the buyout is 14 million US dollars, an amount set by the sealing industry. They initially agreed to refrain from embarking on the slaughter for seven days while funds could be raised, and Seal Alert-SA had agreed to a daily deposit of $15,000 for another week, beginning on the eighth day, to allow for even more time to collect pledges and delay the seal cull. A condition of the agreement was that no seals are killed during this period.

On July 5th, the “buyout” letter by Hatem Yavuz has been made public and as of today, July 6th, the seal slaughter has not begun. Talks are continuing with Hatem Yavuz and, subsequent to recent publicity, Seal Alert-SA is also negotiating with the Namibian government to cancel the sealing rights of the industry and announce an end to the seal cull in a legal binding manner.