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Seals killed for penis and testes to make Chinese performance enhancers

Amy Lou Jenkins' photo
Green Living Examiner
 Cape seal slaughter

 Seal Alert SA 

See video of Seal Clubbing below

caution: graphic, and violent

Also of interest:

Nambian Seal Slaughter, the last sanctioned baby nursing seal clubbing in the world  Streaming Radio

Interview with Francois Hugo of Seal Alert : Stop clubbing Cape fur seals

Francois Hugo says it may not to late to save more than 90,000 Namibian seals from cruel clubbing

Myths keep some from supporting the effort to stop Cape seal slaughter

Namibian sealers turn clubs on undercover film-makers

No one in the media has yet made an overt connection between the Namibian seal clubbing and the market for seal penis and testes. Somewhere in the world seals are killed to make one of the most popular medicines Chinese athletes take, Dalishen Oral Liquid. This popular performance enhancer uses seals' penises and testes as a primary ingredient.  Namibia and Canada hold the biggest Seal culls in the world.

Seal Alert-SA has worked tirelessly to prevent the Namibian seal clubbing which has escalated despite the declining market for seal furs, and the declining numbers of Cape seals.  Only one fur supplier, Australian Hatem Yavuz, kills and sells the pelts.  Seal Alert-SA has reported that the organization still has pelts from on hand from previous culls. Furs are processed in Turkey, and the market is thought to be in China. That market may be growing. Large-scale seal clubbing also occurs in Canada.

With the markets for pelts uncertain, the Namibian Government continues to sell rights to club the seals, and Yavuz continues to hire clubbers to murder the seals.  Why? The answer is most certainly rooted in money. While there is apparently a market for pelts, the mystery behind the determination to hide the Cape seal clubbing from view continues.
 
Days ago, Namibian seal clubbers turned their clubs upon a filmmaking crew, attempting to film the cull. According to Seal Alert -SA, the Government charged filmmaker/ tourists under the Marine Resources Act of 2000. "Trespassing in a marine reserve", which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail or a N$500 000 fine, is bogus. Even the lesser charge that the two tourists/filmmakers were forced to plead guilty to, "entering a restricted area without permission" and were then fined, 12 months in jail or N$10 000 each. The filmmakers report they did not obtain a permit to film, because there is no record of the government ever issuing a permit to film the cull.
 
Those who assaulted the filmmakers were not charged, even though the clubbing continued in full view of police and government officials. Seal Alert -SA now warns tourists that they may be in harms way if they are caught in the wrong spot while photographing seals. 

 
 

Sources:

Seal Alert SA 

Harpseals.org

Chinese athletes


 

  
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, Green Living Examiner

Amy Lou Jenkins is an award-winning writer, speaker and educator navigating the joys and challenges of living a greener life. She holds an MFA in Literature and Writing and is the author of EVERY NATURAL FACT: FIVE SEASONS OF OPEN-AIR PARENTING. Contact her at www.AmyLouJenkins.com.

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