80,000 Baby Seals Are Being Slaughtered in Namibia to Make Fur Coats in China That Are Sold on net

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http://www.takepart.com/video/2014/08/18/how-help-stop-slaughter-80000-baby-seals?cmpid=action-eml-recurring-seals-2


Pete Bethune of 'The Operatives' details his plan to end the slaughter of Cape fur seal pups—and how you can help.

August 18, 2014 By Todd Woody

Todd Woody is TakePart's senior editor for environment and wildlife.

the Sunday premiere of the new reality-television series The Operatives, a group of environmental commandos sneak onto a Namibian diamond mine site to video baby Cape fur seals being clubbed to death. The government-sanctioned cull kills more than 80,000 pups a year. In Operatives’ leader Pete Bethune’s new Captain’s Vlog (video above), he offers details on his plan to stop the slaughter.

The team is collecting signatures for a petition demanding an end to the cull that Bethune will present to the West African country’s parliament. The idea: International tourism is worth nearly a billion dollars a year to Namibia. If overseas visitors stay away out of revulsion over the brutal killing of seal pups, it’ll pressure the government to halt the hunt and the export of seal pelts.

That trade brings in $500,000 at most to Namibia, according to environmental groups, but it has proved lucrative to China, where the pelts are made into expensive coats, hats, and other clothing.

Why China? For one thing, it still allows the import of seal skins. The United States banned the seal fur trade in 1972, and the European Union imposed a ban in 2009.

FULL story and video at link.