PLANS by Canada to export large numbers of harp seals to China have been slammed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare as a return to the days of wholesale slaughter which could threaten some species with extinction.
The fund is concerned that the seal trade, which was virtually ended in the 1980s after an international outcry, will be revived on an even larger scale if China opens up as a market.
The fund's director of public affairs, Nick Jenkins, said a Canadian group was due to arrive in Shanghai today to try to negotiate deals for seal products, including pelts, blubber and, most valuable of all, seal penis.
'Basically, having had the rest of world turn their back on Canada's seal products, they are now turning their attention to China,' Mr Jenkins said. 'If they are able to establish a substantial market there it would be very worrying because it is potentially a massive market.' The seals' penises, which can sell in Hong Kong for $170, are prized in traditional Chinese medicine because they are thought to enhance male potency.
However, the chairman of China's National Association of Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Research, Dr Lo Yan-wo, said his association was opposed to use of seal parts.
He said there was no need for them because there were many alternative herbal remedies which were equally effective.
