Media Release
24 June 2009
Australian company implicated in African seal slaughter
Animals Australia has revealed that Australian-based company Hatem Yavuz is implicated in the
brutal mass slaughter of seal pups in Namibia. Hatem Yavuz - a fur and skins company whose
head office is in Sydney- bought 23,000 skins from the 2008 cull. The company is the last
remaining buyer of Namibian Cape Fur Seal skins.
"Australians will be shocked and appalled to learn that an Australian company has been involved in
this terrible slaughter of seal cubs. Hatem Yavuz, through being the major buyer of seal pelts, has
been just as responsible of the suffering and deaths of these defenceless cubs as the men that
wielded the clubs," said Animals Australia Executive Director Glenys Oogjes
The 2009 cull is due to commence on 1st July and is set to be the largest slaughter of seals this
year. 91,000 Cape Fur Seals are likely to be killed in this year's cull; 85,000 (93%) of them are
pups between the ages of 7 and 11 months old. Skins of pups less than a year old are preferred by
pelt buyers as older seal skins are too coarse, and require expensive tannery procedures.
" Most Australians find the thought of fur completely offensive and immoral. To then realize that on
average it takes the deaths of eight seal cubs to make one decorative fur coat makes the actions of
those who buy these skins and produce these coats even more condemnable.
According to regulations in Namibia the pups have to be killed by clubbing. This method of clubbing
baby seals has been banned in all other sealing countries except Canada because of its cruelty.
Extensive research done by the European Food Safety Authority in 2007 outlined the welfare
issues regarding the killing of seals and concluded that the killings are unnecessarily cruel and
unacceptable.
The market for Namibian Cape Fur Seal skins has collapsed over recent years due to lack of
demand and import bans in the European Union, the United States, Mexico and South Africa
because of the cruelty involved in the sealing methods.
"Hatem Yavuz effectively has the power to put an end to this dreadful seal cull if they publicly
commit to never again purchase Namibian seal cub pelts. Animals Australia has written to Hatem
Yavuz demanding this so that all Australian support of this cruel slaughter is removed."
Media comment:
Glenys Oogjes 0414312552
Animals Australia Inc. 37 O'Connell Street, North Melbourne 3051 AnimalsAustralia.org
NEWS 
