Thirty years after Brigitte Bardot's trip to the ice caps ( in 1977) to denounce to the world the cruelty of the seal hunt, France, at the request of the Fondation Brigitte Bardot, is finally going to place a ban on all seal products, most notably fur.

1977Brigitte Bardot

This is a significant and truly wonderful victory after thirty years of non-stop advocacy. After having raised the world's awareness of the reality of the seal hunt, after having won the prohibition of the white seal hunt, after the bans that several European countries placed on seal products, Jacques Chirac offers the best possible gift to our organization and to all defenders of animal rights.

Indeed, Friday April 20, 2007, as the seals were being massacred in the Canadian ice caps ( at a fixed quota of 270,000 per year) , the Fondation Brigitte Bardot received a call from the Elysee informing us that the President of the Republic, Jacques Chirac, had decided to issue a decree closing France's doors to products from the seal hunt and that he would ask the Minister of Ecology to proceed in enforcing it. This news was confirmed to us on Tuesday April 24, 2007.





Brigitte Bardot's first reaction to Jacques Chirac

"It is hard for me to express my gratitude and my esteem of you and your Ecology Ministry for putting a ban on products from the seal hunt. Thirty years almost to the day of my first visit to the ice caps, I have for the first time the feeling that my fight, my life, will not have all been for nothing. Thank you!"

2006 Brigitte Bardot in Ottawa







On our way to a total European ban!

In the spirit of this magnificent victory, the fight continues! We remain mobilized and ready to make sure that, very soon, not just a few countries in the Union but all of Europe will have closed its doors to products issuing from the seal hunt industry. And this ambition is not unrealistic!

Indeed in Europe things are shifting. The European Parliament solicited from the European Commission a regulation proposal aiming to prohibit the importation, exportation and the sale of all products derived from harp seals and hooded seals. This bill was signed by 425 delegates, that means the largest majority came together for a written declaration! The Counsel of Europe also invited other European governments to prohibit the trade of products derived from this deplorable hunt. In January 2007, following Italy, Belguim imposed an embargo on seal products. Germany and the Netherlands are also ready to make similar provisions.

2006 avec Stavros Dimas

For his part, the European Commissioner on environmental issues, Stavros Dimas (who met with Brigitte Bardot and her staff) recently announced that a study would be conducted by the scientific authority EFSA to evaluate the cruelty of the seal hunt.

Madame Senator,

Once again you use the media to attempt to discredit the action of my foundation, recognized public utility, accusing us of shameless disinformation on the subject of the seal hunt.

Referring to the documentaries filmed on the ice field and seized last year, Canada doesn’t seem to be transparent with its seals hunting methods.

You venerate the "ethics" of the method: "crushing the skull, palpitation, and exsanguination," "certified non-cruelty."

You have as little credibility as the European Commission that just ordered a study of a cruel hunt so decried in Europe. It is evident that you do not share the same regard of these massacres which are the shame of Canada and which revolt public opinion worldwide.

You are accusing me of manipulation, but how could we qualify your words about the European Commission position that, according to you, would refuse any favourable decision for a boycott.

Your interpretation is wrong and deceitful. The European instances are in favour of an embargo of products issuing from this slaughter. To claim the contrary, as you are doing, is a "shameful misrepresentation of the facts," a manipulation that will get you nowhere.

Do not forget that 425 delegates support our cause!

Rather than saying just anything, you would do better to respond with a Canadian ban on foie gras. It would be a formidable way to make two dents with one stone and denounce the barbarous practice that I condemn firmly from this side of the Atlantic.

We no longer want furs and other products made from seals, for we refuse to be complicit in the massacres that reveal the inhumanity of mankind!

I listen when you speak of your "durable seal harvest" but you will never prevent me from thinking and saying that this massacre is an appalling animal genocide that we must condemn.

How a woman defends, as you are doing, the putting to death (and in what conditions!) of hundreds of thousands of defenseless beings is beyond me, and freezes me with terror. Is there not one ounce of humanity in you?

Brigitte Bardot President, Fondation Brigitte Bardot