Russian stars protest against baby seal hunt
MOSCOW (AFP) — Russian stars and environment defenders rallied Tuesday on the White Sea's shore against hunting baby seals, which is still practiced in Russia in March and April, Russian media reported.
"I think that today we did a great thing and stopped these killings for at least some time. A law must put an end to this," Russian sports commentator Viktor Gusev said as quoted by the Interfax news agency.
Television channels transmitted images of men walking in the vast white snow desert wielding ice-picks, hitting baby seals one after another as snow turned red with blood.
"I call on Russia to ban killing of baby seals. They are just like human babies -- they also cry for their mothers," pop star Laima Vaikule said.
Some 335,000 people signed a petition calling for the practice to end, the deputy chief of Russia's environment monitoring agency Rosprirodnadzor, Oleg Mitvol, said Tuesday.
According to Russia's natural resources ministry, up to 35,000 baby seals are killed in the White Sea annually.
"Let us recall that the hunt of baby seals is authorised only in Russia," the letter said, adding that their soft white fur coats are partly exported to Norway.
