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Earth Island Journal, Autumn, 2009

It's okay to club 85,000 seals to death for their fur--but not okay to film the individuals responsible.

That's what two journalists learned when they took videos of seal hunters in Namibia in mid-July. Jim Wilckens, a British reporter, and a South African cameraman, Bart Smithers, were charged and found guilty of offenses against the Namibian Marine Resources Act for entering a restricted area where the hunt occurs. Their fines of $5,000 Namibian dollars (roughly US$625) were paid, and the two packed their gear. "We are happy this is over and we will leave as soon as possible," Wilckens told reporters.

The duo was on assignment with Bont Voor Dieren (Fur For Animals), a Dutch organization dedicated to protection of all things furry, whose Web site states that their activism is done "using entirely legal and nonviolent means." Bont Voor Dieren had commissioned Ecostorm, the investigative media agency with which Wilckens is affiliated, to film the seal-hunting activity.

Andrew Wasley, co-director of Ecostorm, says that both Wilckens and Smithers were assaulted while in custody. A Namibian police officer denied the allegations. "One of the two reporters laid a charge of physical assault, but no one has been arrested yet," the officer says.

During the annual seal hunt, which starts July 1, about 85,000 seal pups are killed for their pelts while some 6,000 bulls are shot. This year, animal rights activists sought to stop the slaughter by buying out the Australian company that oversees the clubbing. But the animal rights groups, including Seal Alert South Africa and Humane Society International, failed to come up with enough money to close the deal.

"I told them, 'You want to buy me out, buy me out,'" says Hatem Yavuz, owner of the pelt trading company. "They kept the money in their pocket. ... Nothing came from these associations and we have begun the annual slaughter."

--AFP, 7/17 & 7/24