It is a very disturbing piece of legislation, very worrisome, he says. He believes that the
animal rights lobby is behind it. I should wish that they (the EU) would have listened to
our story first. It is our lives that are affected. This is cultural genocide, they will kill our
traditional lifestyle.
The EU market represents 75% of the wild animal fur market and the 13 species on the
EU list are the primary species for trapping, Cone stresses. Therefore, the EU regulations
will mean loss of income. We have always, through centuries, been attached to the land.
Now, we will not be able to afford to go out there. We will be displaced from the land,
the link will be cut off. Right now most of my neighbours are out there in the bush
trapping.
Cone says that they are working to find the exact figures, but that at least 50,000 Indian
people are dependent on trapping.