Article Summary:

The Globe and Mail has reported that Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have informed the World Trade Organization they will no longer import or export “raw, tanned and dressed fur skin of harp seals and their pups”, with supporting documents saying that the ban was effective from August 2011. Fur industry officials were quoted in 2006 as saying 90 per cent of Canadian pelts go to Russia and China, so if the trade is banned by them, many environmental groups feel the trade is commercially finished.