The dewy-eyed innocence of baby seals has prompted a rare burst of environmental activism in Russia that has moved Vladimir Putin to end their slaughter. The annual spring cull in the northern White Sea region has been scrapped after Mr Putin condemned the clubbing of baby seals for their fur as a “bloody trade”.
The Natural Resources and Ecology Ministry said that it was responding to public concern, but the Prime Minister’s words appeared to have been decisive.
Yuri Trutnev, the Natural Resources Minister, reacted swiftly, outlawing the cull of harp seals younger than one year old after Mr Putin told a Cabinet meeting that “it’s clear that it should have been banned long ago”.