Seals are not sausage, say Russian protesters

A BUSINESS that makes sausages out of seals on Russia’s Pacific coast has prompted an outcry, with more than 160,000 people signing a petition in protest.

While commercial seal hunting has been on the decline in the West after decades of animal rights campaigns, an entrepreneur in the Magadan region believes it is a “niche” ripe to be exploited. In response, thousands of Russians have spoken out to insist that “seals are not sausage”.

The government of the remote region announced last month that a private company had killed 137 seals to produce sausage, which it dubbed “Kolyma know-how” in reference to Magadan’s Stalin-era name.

“Such food wasn’t produced even in Soviet times. The meat of captured animals went for feed at farms raising Arctic foxes and mink,” it said in a statement seeking to drum up investment. “But according to dietitians, seal meat possesses not only a good taste, but also nutritional value.”

Vasily Borisov, the entrepreneur behind the venture, told Magadan media that his company produced 10,000 cans of spotted seal meat, as well as seal fat and seal bacon in 2018. He now has a government grant to start production of seal sausage and pâté.

Mr Borisov made bold claims for the benefits of seal products, saying they increase immunity, improve vision, clear respiratory passages, prevent heart attacks and inflammation, lower blood pressure and cholesterol and even help withstand chemotherapy.

A Change.org petition addressed to Vladimir Putin argued that the production of seal sausages was not local “know-how” but a “primeval” and “immoral” practice that could threaten seal species. It also disputed the health benefits of the animals’ fatty meat.

“[Seal hunting] remains among indigenous peoples as a relic of their traditions. Commercial seal hunting has no place in the 21st century,” it said.

Mr Borisov has previously argued that an annual catch of a few hundred would not affect the population of 50,000 spotted seals in eastern Russia, claiming that 6,000 seals die each year in fishing nets. Spotted seals are not a protected species.

Greenpeace has opposed commercial seal hunting, while supporting hunting by indigenous peoples.