Secret film exposes 'cruel' seal cull

Welfare groups demand international monitors at culls

By Jane Standley in Namibia

The International Fund for Animal Welfare has condemned seal culling in Namibia as cruel, inhumane and inadequately managed.

The lobby group's comments follow secretly-filmed footage of seal culling at a commercial concession on the Skeleton Coast.

Secretly-filmed footage shows indiscriminate clubbing of seals

The animals appear to be clubbed randomly and then are not stabbed quickly in the heart to ensure they die immediately and with minimum suffering.

The methods shown on the film contravene Namibian and international guidelines on the culling of seals.

The Namibian Government has insisted that the correct methods are being adhered to.

Indiscriminate clubbing

During this year's culling season in Namibia, 60,000 seal pups are to be killed.

That is double the number of last year.

The internationally agreed way of culling seals is supposed to prevent terrified seals from escaping, badly injured.

The method consists in one clear strike to the head and a quick stab in the heart - with a long knife known as a sticker - to ensure a rapid death.

But the film acquired by the BBC shows workers swinging clubs indiscriminately at wriggling groups of seals - with a quick follow-up with a sticker knife.

60,000 seal pups are to be killed during the culling season

Christina Pretorius of the International Fund for Animal Welfare says international rules are being broken.

"We're completely horrified. You could see in those pictures a frenzied kind of clubbing", she said.

"There is a management style which has to be adhered to both internationally and in terms of Namibian regulations - and they are just not being adhered to in this footage", added Ms Pretorius.

Necessary culling

But Dr Burger Oelofson of Namibia's Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources denied that random clubbing takes place.

"I can assure you that no-one should be concerned. What is purported to have happened didn't happen. There is no way that any clubbing can or will take place in a random manner", he said.

Dr Oelofson denies random clubbing takes place

The country's fishing industry provides jobs and export earnings, and those working in it are convinced that seal culling must continue.

They say culling is necessary because the country's one million seals eat more fish than they can catch.

Animal welfare groups say there is no scientific evidence that the seals damage fish stocks.

They are now demanding international monitors at all future culls.