UK-registered companies connected to controversial Canadian seal cull

The Canadian seal cull, which takes place each spring off the country’s east coast, has become an annual showdown between campaigners and the Canadian authorities. It sees as many as 300,000 harp seals shot or clubbed to death for their fur and other byproducts, including oil, meat and body parts prized for aphrodisiac purposes.

Repeatedly condemned as ‘barbaric’ by animal welfare campaigners, these bloody scenes on the ice floes nevertheless seem disconnected from life in Britain. But new evidence shows that UK-registered companies are at the centre of a global trade in Canadian sealskins.

An investigation by the Ecologist has revealed how a number of London-based fur dealers are procuring the controversial skins from Canadian companies and shipping them to Europe and Scandinavia, before despatching them to China and elsewhere to be manufactured into fur garments and fashion accessories – including coats, scarves, hats and handbags – sold across the world.

Canada’s cull of the wild

Activists claim the seal cull is cruel and unsustainable. They say that many seals are shot but not killed outright – many allegedly...

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