Ban on sealskin is bad decision

THE European legislation in 2009 banning seal products on animal welfare grounds was both unnecessary and ill thought through. Seals are wonderful animals and should be allowed to thrive, but at the same time – and quite apart from the sporran industry – they are also decimating the salmon population.

The whisky industry has the gravitas, and more importantly the resources, to fight its corner. The sporran-making industry does not. Malcolm Scott (“Scottish sporran makers fear for future”, News, 5 May) is to be admired for his courage, but it is David and Goliath. Not only is the sporran Scotland’s national dress, but the alternative skins are not comparable and not part of the sporran’s heritage.

There are now humane 
ways of controlling animal over-runs. This can and should apply to the seal population of Scotland.

It seems that common sense and good judgment get you nowhere, unless there is a wealthy influential lobby to support it.

Deirdre Kinloch Anderson, Longniddry