RNW, 26 March 2011
A Dutch seal shelter is to open a second a second facility in Canada hoping to sway public opinion to ban seal hunts completely.
The shelter, based in the northern province of Groningen, will open the facility in Nova Scotia. It set up its first facility in Canada three years ago. A Canadian volunteer is currently being trained in the Netherlands.
The news comes on the same day that the Canadian authorities set the quota of seals to be killed this year at nearly 500,000, a 20 percent increase over last year. Since 2007, annual quotas have risen every year.
Hunted for their fur and meat, most seals are clubbed to death. Worldwide, some 900,000 seals are killed every year, more than half of them in Canada.
Earlier this month, Lenie 't Hart, who founded the Groningen seal shelter 40 years ago, announced she was retiring.
Related Article:
Canada increases seal hunt quota
EU seal pelts import ban dispute goes to WTO court
Canada's seal ban appeal goes to WTO panel
Canada, which has argued that its annual seal hunt
is conducted humanely, is challenging the European
Union's ban on the import of seal products. A WTO
dispute panel will be assembled to hear the case.
((Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press))
