The Korean Animal Welfare Association and Humane Society International Urge Korea to Say No to Seal Products

Broadcast Quality B-roll and Stills Available for Media

WHAT:         The Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA) and Humane Society International (HSI) will present compelling evidence in support of a prohibition on seal product trade in Korea. Graphic images of cruelty at the 2010 commercial seal hunt will be released along with information about the global trade in seal products.

WHEN:          Wednesday, December 8, 2010

                                11:00 am.

WHERE:        100-120, Dongyang Big, A/2 Fl, Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea

Korea Green Foundation, Rachel Carson Hall

HOW:             To download video visit humanesociety.org/news/multimedia/ then scroll down along the lower right side of the page to Channels, Press Room/seals.

Background: Each year, hundreds of thousands of seal pups are brutally clubbed and shot to death in Canada for their fur. KAWA and HSI, along with other international animal protection NGOs, are standing at the forefront of a worldwide campaign against this Canadian government-endorsed inhumane, commercial activity.

In May 2009, the European Union prohibited its trade in products of commercial seal hunts, joining the United States (which banned seal product trade in 1972) and Mexico and Croatia (who banned seal product trade in 2006).

With the loss of the European market, the Canadian government is looking to East Asia for a new market to breathe life into the moribund sealing industry. KAWA and HSI are calling upon South Korean consumers and businesses not to buy or sell seal products, and the South Korean government to consider a prohibition on seal product trade.

Contact Person:  Gail Jun
Programmes Director
Korean Animal Welfare Association(KAWA)