Bleu de Terre

Commentary in response to the latest proposal by the German government to ban all seal products coming into that country.

Source: The Telegram, 28th Feb. 2007 by Jamie Baker

One good ban deserves another; Liberal MP calling for embargo of German deer and boar

In a battle of squeakers and beaters, Liberal MP Scott Simms says countries that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

In the wake of a proposed German ban on the import of seal products, the Liberal Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor MP is planning to bring a similar motion to the floor of the Canadian House of Commons. His motion, based on principle moreso than economics, will call for a ban on the import of, and trade in, wild venison and wild boar products from Germany.

“Time and time again we dispel all these myths being put out there by animal rights groups, and yet, we still face these stupid resolutions and motions that basically play right into those myths,” Simms told The Telegram Tuesday.

Simms has been considering the motion since the issue first arose in Germany last fall. However, earlier this week, Germany’s agriculture minister, Horst Seehofer, announced plans to introduce a bill to prohibit the import of all seal products. Animal rights groups are already heralding Seehofer’s move as a major victory that could cost the Canadian seal industry about $2 million per year. On the flip-side, numbers released by the provincial government indicate that 1.2 million deer and over 500,000 wild boars are hunted in Germany annually. Simms’ resolution indicates that the animals are “cruelly slaughtered every year in Germany” and that most of the animals are killed for sport and to provide ‘traditional delicacies’ for the local market. “That doesn’t sound like full utilization of the species to me,” Simms said, noting that many of the boar taken are babies, commonly referred to as squeakers, that are not yet weaned from their mothers; many of the deer taken are fallow deer, which Simms said is “pretty much like killing Bambi.”

His motion states that desire to manufacture traditional lederhosen from the hides of deer and boar is not an acceptable rationale for the ongoing hunt, and that lederhosen can easily be made from synthetic material. “Canada must take all available measures that may contribute to the widest possible curtailing of wild deer and boar hunting for such frivolous purposes,” Simms’ motion states. In addition, Simms charges that the hunt of boar and deer in Germany runs counter to good conservation practices, given shrinking habitat and the effects of climate change. He also pointed out that the hunts are done under slack licensing controls, with no training requirements for hunters. “Our seal harvest is a professional harvest done under monitored conditions. When they slaughter deer and boar, is that monitored?” Simms asked.

Fisheries Department spokesman Phil Jenkins told The Canadian Press that the German Bundestag has yet to see any legislation, and Germany remains out of step with the rest of the European Union. He said the European Commission decided last month that Canada’s current legislation adequately protects young seals.

Simms targets the federal Foreign Affairs Department for not being active enough in Europe with respect to the seal issue. He said evidence of government’s lack of commitment on the matter can be found in a September 2006 decision to cut the foreign diplomacy budget - a budget that picks up the tab for Canadian officials travelling to foreign nations on matters of relations and trade. “I don’t think our Foreign Affairs Department is doing a good enough job getting the message out on the seal hunt. I want to see them run with this and I challenge them to do so,” Simms said, insisting that he is tired of Canada being the favourite target when it comes to seal hunting. “There are two members of the EU that kill whitecoats and that would be Russia and Norway, but it seems like Canada is always the whipping boy,” he said. “If the German parliamentarians think I’m wrong, and if the minister of agriculture thinks I’m wrong, then come to Canada and tell me I’m wrong - and when he comes to Canada, he can meet me in Twillingate.”

Simms said he also plans to send copies of his motion to contacts in Europe. “Politicians in Europe are using this for their own political reasons,” he said. “I plan to send a copy of this motion to places I know in Europe to let them know we are serious about this, and that they should be, too. “Have we played nice for too long now? It seems like it. So I’m putting the motion to the House and if Foreign Affairs doesn’t like it, well, they’ll just have to deal with it.”