Hong Kong  - The fur industry Monday attacked a planned trip to Canada by Hong Kong singer-actress Karen Mok to campaign against seal culls, saying she was being "manipulated" by animal rights groups.

Mok, 38, who has appeared in hit movies Shaolin Soccer and Around the World in 80 Days, is to fly to Canada Friday to shoot a mini-documentary about seal culls.

Her visit comes just weeks ahead of an annual hunt when more than 300,000 seals will be killed for their skins and is part of a global campaign to stop the trade in seal fur.

The trip is organised by the Hong Kong Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and the Humane Society International (HSI).

But a spokesman for the fur industry branded the trip "irrelevant" to Hong Kong saying it and the campaign were simply money-spinning exercises by animal rights groups to "fill their coffers."

Timothy Everest, spokesman of the Hong Kong Fur Federation, said he did not know any manufacturer in Hong Kong that used seal in its collections.

"She is lovely lady and she could be doing an awful lot for charities for deprived or handicapped children, rather than being manipulated by the animal rights people."

He said the cull was carried under the control of the Canadian government to manage the population of seals which stood at a healthy 6.5 to 7 million but would exhaust the supply of the world's fish if left to multiply.

Everest accused the animal right groups of manipulating Mok and the public by using "horrendous images" showing baby seals being clubbed to death on the ice, when the killing of so-called "whitecoat" baby seals had been banned since the 1980s.

"It's an emotive image that enables these animal right groups to raise donations to fill their coffers," said Everest, who is himself a fur trader.

"They flew in Paul McCartney to the ice throes with his now ex-wife. That stunt made them 650,000 US dollars. But it didn't save a single seal because the Canadian government have to control the seals otherwise the balance of nature goes out of kilter," he said.

"The fur trade is a legitimate trade and first and foremost our concern is animal welfare."

Mok could not be reached for comment. Rebecca Aldworth of the HIS denied the campaign was a money-spinning exercise saying all donations went to fund the campaign.

"Sealers hunt seals for one reason only - money. History shows this clearly. When the prices paid for seal skins are low, kill levels in Canada decline accordingly," she said.

"HSI does indeed show images of baby seals being clubbed (and shot) because 97 per cent of the seals killed - according to the Canadian government's own kill reports - are pups under just three months old and most are under one month old at the time of slaughter. The images we show are real and are current." (dpa)