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Hazel Parry

Singer-actor Karen Mok Man-wai  will fly to Canada next month to visit colonies of young seals just days ahead of the annual hunt when up to 300,000 of the mammals  will be slaughtered.
The trip is being organised by the Hong Kong Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), which has joined forces with the Humane Society International in an awareness campaign. 
The  campaign hopes to raise public awareness of the seal hunt, which the group  brands as inhumane, and to lobby for legislation that would ban the trade of seal products in Hong Kong. 
Mok will be accompanied by a film crew  which will shoot a mini-documentary of her trip that  the SPCA plans to use in the campaign in Hong Kong and  on the mainland.
 SPCA executive director Sandy Macalister  said Mok's popularity both in Hong Kong and on the mainland would be a big boost to the campaign.
'The seal hunt is a dreadful thing and a lot of people have  no idea that Hong Kong is in any way connected,' Mr Macalister said. 'Karen has been an anti-fur ambassador of ours for a long time. She's a big name here and on the mainland and it is good to get her behind the campaign.'
Mok  last year was voted on to the best-dressed list of the  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,   in recognition of her refusal to wear animal skins.
She said she hoped her trip to Canada and the documentary would help people in Hong Kong and China understand the 'horrendous' nature of the seal hunt.
'Seals are such lovely creatures and who needs seal fur, or any fur for that matter, when there is so many different fabrics we can use to keep us warm. There really is no point to fur,' she said.  
'Seal products are banned in most parts of the world, but there is still a market in Asia, especially China and Japan, and Hong Kong can play a part in stopping this terrible torture of animals.'
Every year about 300,000 of the young seals are killed by licensed fishermen using rifles or hakapiks - a club with a metal hook. The furs are sold for about HK$325 each and usually end up as trim on collars and cuffs. The meat is sold mainly for animal consumption while the oil is used in the production of Omega 3 oil health supplements. 
The world seal trade  is worth about HK$100 million  in 2006,  Canadian government statistics show. 
But the Humane Society International believes that following a ban on the trade in seal products  in Europe, the fur industry  is now looking to boost its market in China, which in 2006 was worth about HK$5.7 million. 
The Canadian government insists the hunt is not cruel and  is a valuable source of income for native Inuits. 
Loyola Sullivan, ambassador  for  Canada's fisheries conservation,  urged Hong Kong people to get all the facts before making a decision on the issue.
'If the seal products are banned, then there is justification to shut down every hunt in the world and stop the export of all other such products,' Mr Sullivan said. 
'I say that because seals are killed as humanely as any other animal and we follow the highest standards put forward by experts.  
 'Canada values its relationship with Hong Kong and I sincerely believe the people in Hong Kong are knowledgeable and will make decisions and do things based on fact. I don't anticipate any irrational decision in Hong Kong.'



Karen Mok will make  anti-fur film in Canada  in push to end seal hunt