The post was written by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Senior Research and Projects Specialist Sheryl Fink, who is based in Guelph, Ontario. The article was originally published on Straight.com.

An internal government memo recently came to light urging Canada’s agriculture minister, Gerry Ritz, not to join the United States and Europe in banning cat and dog fur imports. Government officials fear that such action could weaken Canada’s position against countries that have banned imports of seal fur products.

The news that cat and dog fur products can be readily purchased in this country likely comes as a shock to many Canadians. Most of us would be repulsed by the idea of wearing Tigger and Fido, even those of us who eat meat and wear leather.

Cat and dog fur is most often used as trim for garments and trinkets. Fur may be dyed, shaved, and otherwise altered so that it bears little resemblance to the animal from which it came. Such fur—if labelled at all—is often mislabeled, since exporting countries are well aware of our reluctance to wear clothing made from cats and dogs.

The original article appeared on PEICanada.com...

How disappointing it is to see more whining and complaining about NGOs from Fisheries Minister Gail Shea. If she’s not careful, her term will be up before she even begins to address the real issues behind Canada’s commercial seal hunt.

I invite Minister Shea to view the seal hunt footage taken in 2007/2008/2009 by sealing observers, myself included. This is the same footage shown to European parliamentarians. This footage is not outdated - as the minister alleges - nor does it contain images of whitecoat seals.

Europeans know perfectly well the seals killed in the current hunt are not whitecoats. They also know it is irrelevant. When we talk about the difference between a two-week-old whitecoat, and the same pup once it starts to moult a few days later, colour doesn’t matter does it?

This footage shows current and graphic examples of inhumane killing during Canada’s commercial seal hunt. Seal pups are shown hooked in the face and dragged across the ice, while clearly conscious and struggling. It shows seals shot, wounded and left to suffer for prolonged periods.

I challenge Minister Shea to face all Canadians and tell them that what she sees on those videos is “humane,” that it is “professional,” and she is still proud to “stand up” for the sealing industry.

I invite her to explain to all Canadians why her government continues to waste millions of taxpayers’ dollars annually - the WTO challenge alone will cost an estimated $10 million - to support an industry that brought in little more than a million dollars last year, provides only a few days work, and tarnishes other industries such as tourism and fisheries. Taxpayer dollars wasted on trying to keep the sealing industry alive would be better spent on finding economically viable alternatives to sealing.

Meanwhile, Minister Shea’s continued enthusiasm for criticizing animal welfare NGOs simply demonstrates that she has no good arguments to defend Canada’s commercial seal hunt.

Perhaps that’s because there aren’t any?

Sheryl Fink
Senior Research and Projects Specialist
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
Guelph, Ontario