According to a story quoted in the
British magazine
Private Eye, 30/11/2001, from the
Norwegian newspaper
Aftenposten, the
Norwegian government is considering promoting
seal clubbing as a
tourist attraction. With 1200
baby seals to be killed each year, but a shortage of volunteers, this seemed to the Norwegian
Fisheries Minister Svein Ludvigsen to be an ideal change of pace for the
hunters who already pursue
moose through the Norwegian countryside.
Inevitably, this provoked an angry response from environmentalists, who do not believe that seals cause significant damage to the fish populations in the North Sea. One green campaigner is quoted as saying, "What next? Will they advertise it as a Club eighteen-to-thirty holiday?"
Reference (missing the final quote, which is in Private Eye) http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=224173