Star's trip to Canada's seal colonies irks HK fur industry

A trip by Karen Mok Man-wai to see seal colonies on the ice throes of Canada this week has been criticised by the Hong Kong Fur Federation, which claims the star is being manipulated by animal rights campaigners.

The actress and singer is due to fly to Canada on Friday to shoot a mini-documentary on the seals weeks ahead of an annual hunt, when more than 300,000 of the mammals will be killed and their skins sold to fur manufacturers.

The trip has been organised by the Hong Kong Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and the Humane Society International, as part of a public awareness campaign aimed at bringing about a ban of the seal product trade in Hong Kong and ending the hunt.

However, a spokesman for the Hong Kong fur industry called the trip 'irrelevant', saying Mok's trip and the campaign were simply money-spinning exercises by animal rights groups to 'fill their coffers'.

Timothy Everest, the fur federation's spokesman, said he did not know any manufacturer in Hong Kong that used seal in its collections.

'Flying Karen Mok to see the seals is totally irrelevant to Hong Kong ... She does a lot of good things ... and could be doing an awful lot for charities for deprived or handicapped children, rather than being manipulated by the animal rights people.'

Mr Everest, a past chairman and present adviser to the federation, which has 150 member companies, urged the public to get all the facts before supporting the campaign, stressing that the hunt was a necessary cull.