EU executive moves to limit cruelty of seal hunts

By Pete Harrison

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission adopted proposals on Wednesday to ban the import of pelts from seals that have endured excessive suffering while being killed, risking possible trade conflicts with hunting nations.

While stopping short of calling for a total ban, the EU's executive body said products from the 900,000 seals hunted each year should be accepted in the EU only with guarantees that the seal has been killed as humanely as possible.

None of the 15 seal species that are currently hunted is endangered, but European environmentalists and politicians have demanded action after finding evidence that seals are often skinned while still conscious.

Typically, they are first shot or bludgeoned over the head with a spiked club known as a hakapik.

"European citizens find these practices repugnant," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told reporters. "Seal products coming from countries which practise hunting methods that involve unnecessary pain and suffering must not be allowed to enter the EU."

Last year, Belgium and the Netherlands imposed their own bans on imports such as seal furs and vitamin products, prompting a trade complaint from Canada on the grounds that their accusations of cruelty were unfounded.

Dimas said the ban would not cover subsistence hunting by Inuits or hunts that had been proved humane.

"It is very difficult to define what is humane," he said. "Personally, I don't like killing of any kind, but we will follow what science is telling us does not cause unnecessary pain and suffering to animals."