**Two journalists from the UK and South Africa are due in court after being allegedly attacked then arrested while filming seal hunters in Namibia.**A group of hunters used clubs to hit Jim Wickens and South African cameraman Bart Smithers, according to the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
They were then arrested by police and reportedly had their equipment seized.
Namibia’s annual seat hunt began on 1 July, with a quota of 85,000 animals due to be killed.
Mr Wickens works for the Eco-Storm agency, based in Brighton in southern England. He was making a report for Dutch lobby group Bont voor Dieren along with Mr Smithers.
A Foreign Office spokesman said he was aware of the arrest and was investigating.
The pair were filming the seal hunt in the Cape Cross Seal Reserve on Namibia’s Atlantic Ocean coast.
WSPA marine mammals campaigner Claire Bass said: “The sealers know how the world will react to these hunts and are clearly prepared to go to any lengths to keep this brutal industry from public view. There can be no justification for a clubbing attack against investigators whose only weapon is a camera.”
Namibia’s government says culling is necessary to control the population of seals and maintain fish stocks.
It says the seals eat more fish than the country’s fishermen catch.