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The arctic seal who is afraid of the cold
An Arctic seal who doesn't like the cold is receiving therapy for his condition at a sanctuary in Cornwall.
Sahara, a two-year-old native of the waters that lap the frozen shores of Iceland and Greenland, has been rescued on two occasions after he decided he was better suited to warmer climes.
In December he was airlifted from the Canary Islands to Cornwall. An ice machine has been installed in his enclosure at the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek in Cornwall to help to reacquaint him with Arctic conditions.
Sahara first washed up on a beach in Morocco, more than 2,500 miles (4,000km) off course. Then nine months old, the hooded seal had shed his fur and was barely alive. He was patched up in Cornwall and then released near the Orkney Islands in the hope that, having learnt that warmth was not good for his health, he would return to his natural habitat.
Instead, he headed south again, and was found 1,000 miles away at San Sebastian on the north coast of Spain, on another beach.
While hooded seals occasionally head south to Europe, it is usually because they are following a food source, and they tend to return promptly to the north. But Sahara was unable to find food in the unfamiliar waters and ended each of his voyages dangerously malnourished.
The National Seal Sanctuary has now admitted defeat and will not attempt to reintroduce him to the ocean. Instead, it will focus on making conditions in his enclosure as similar to his natural habitat as possible.
This involves a machine that churns out up to half a ton of ice a day. Staff at the sanctuary said Sahara fled to the other side of his enclosure the first time they shovelled ice into it. An Arctic seal who doesn't like the cold is receiving therapy for his condition at a sanctuary in Cornwall. ... more -
Seals helping humans unlock secrets of the frozen sea
Led by Dr Jean-Benoit Charrassin, a marine biologist at the Natural History Museum in Paris, researchers in France, the UK, Australia and the US have attached electronic dataloggers to 70 seals at the four most important breeding colonies of southern elephant seals.
The animals can dive as deep as 2km in search of food while ranging across much of the Southern Ocean. The transmitters feed data about the ocean back to the researchers
Thanks to the technology, the only remaining area with limited coverage is the Pacific sector, which contains no islands for the seals to breed on.
Prof Fedak said: "I think this is an extremely exciting new approach for ocean observation which has now been extended to seals roaming the seas around both Poles."
The team behind the on-going MEOP project (Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole), which has equipped 100 seals of three polar species with oceanographic sensors, said the animals routinely send large quantities of near real-time information from the undersampled polar regions.
Prof Fedak added: "The MEOP animals have contributed over 35,000 observations from the polar seas in the past year, and I think it is really fantastic to see how large a contribution the animals can make, sending data from below the ice in near real time.
"The idea that these animals have become our partners in providing real time data about the state of our climate while simultaneously helping us to understand their ecological requirements has captured the imagination of biologists, oceanographers and the public."
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Enlisting the aid of other species to help humans find the answers and solutions to the climate crisis and its effects on the ocean will hopefully in the end benefit all species who depend on it for existence. I think that is pretty wonderful. Led by Dr Jean-Benoit Charrassin, a marine biologist at the Natural History Museum in Paris, researchers in France, the UK, Australia ... more -
Caribbean Monk Seal Extinct, U.S. Officials Declare
Federal officials in the U.S. have confirmed what biologists have long thought: The Caribbean monk seal has gone the way of the dodo.
Humans hunting the docile creatures for food, skins, and blubber left the population unsustainable, say biologists, who warn that Mediterranean and Hawaiian monk seals could be the next to go.
From the 1700s to 1900s the seals were killed mainly for their blubber, which was processed into oils, used for lubrication, and applied as a coating on the bottom of boats.
The seals once had a population of more than 250,000, but they became easy game for hunters because they often rested, gave birth, or nursed their pups on beaches.
Seal skins were used for trunk linings, clothing, straps, and bags.
The Caribbean seals were classified as endangered in 1967, and wildlife experts investigated several reported sightings over the past few decades. But officials determined the animals spotted were actually other seal types.
"We must act now to reduce threats to existing monk seal populations before it's too late," she said. "These animals are important to the balance and health of the ocean. We can't afford to wait."
Monk seals are particularly sensitive to human disturbance, and the creatures have been losing their food supplies and beach habitats, officials say. Federal officials in the U.S. have confirmed what biologists have long thought: The Caribbean monk seal has gone the way of the dodo. ... more -
EU seeks to halt cruelty to seals
The European Commission has proposed that the EU ban all trade in seal products from countries that fail to meet high animal welfare standards.
Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas called for a ban on seal products obtained through "cruel hunting methods", which he called "repugnant".
Canada warned the EU not to "bow to misinformation and emotional rhetoric".
Canada kills about 300,000 seals annually off its east coast. It is the biggest such hunt in the world.
In the EU, seal-hunting is practised in Sweden, Finland, the Danish territory of Greenland and in the UK.
Mr Dimas said he hoped the ban would take effect before Canada's 2009 hunting season. He said his office received thousands of demands for a ban - mostly from campaigners in the UK, the US and Canada.
Anti-hunt campaigners say some seals are skinned while still conscious. Hunters typically shoot the seals with rifles or bludgeon them to death with spiked clubs. The animals' pelts, fat and meat are traded.
Canada's Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn insisted on Wednesday that Canada has "a humanely conducted hunt".
The EU ban - not yet approved by the European Parliament and EU ministers - would not apply to Canada's Arctic Inuit community. The European Commission has proposed that the EU ban all trade in seal products from countries that fail to meet high animal welfare s... more -
Nova Scotia's minister's response to proposed EU seal product ban: kill ...
Nova Scotia's fisheries minister called for an expanded annual seal hunt Thursday, thumbing his nose at a proposed move by the European Union to ban the import of seal products amid growing complaints from overseas that the hunt is inhumane.
Ron Chisholm said he believes the hunting methods used by Canadian hunters are humane and he encouraged Ottawa to press the European Parliament to reject the proposed ban.
Under legislation introduced Wednesday, the EU's 27-member states would ban seal products from countries where hunting practices are deemed cruel - though the proposal does not offer a definition of what constitutes inhumane treatment.
Nova Scotia does not have a big stake in the annual slaughter.
The province has a yearly quota of 12,000 grey seals, but hunters have rarely taken more than a few hundred annually.
The bulk of the hunting takes place off the north coast of Newfoundland, where about 200,000 harp seals were taken last year.
Still, Chisholm said Nova Scotian fishermen should be allowed to kill more seals because the grey seal population is growing too fast and they are eating too many fish.
"I know the fishermen feel that a quota of around 20,000 or 25,000 quota per year would probably level out the seal population over a certain period of time," said Chisholm.
Chisholm said the grey seal population had exploded in recent years, and he'd like to see the hunt expanded to areas like Sable Island, where the bulk of the 300,000-strong herd can be found.
Although Chisholm couldn't point to any scientific studies that point to hungry seals as the major cause of the disappearance of groundfish stocks, he said fisherman are convinced seals are the culprits.
"You go to any association...that are fish-related and they will tell you the overpopulation of seals has a lot to do with the recovery of the ground fishery stocks, especially in eastern Nova Scotia."
Last February, Chisholm authorized a special, limited grey seal hunt for Hay Island, a provincially protected wilderness area off Cape Breton.
The province set a quota of 2,500 animals with the blessing of the federal Fisheries Department. But the hunt ended early with about 1,250 grey seals harvested.
Nonetheless, the limited hunt drew the ire of animal welfare groups.
Rebecca Aldworth, a spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States, said Chisholm's logic is meant to mislead the public into thinking the grey seal herd is too big.
She said that as recent as 1949, grey seals had been considered extinct in Atlantic Canada due to commercial overhunting.
"This is a population that has been in a recovery from such a low that people actually thought they were gone," said Aldworth.
Aldworth, who witnessed the spring hunt and called it "one of the most inhumane I've ever seen," said her organization would continue to press for a judicial review of the decision to allow the hunt in a protected area. Nova Scotia's fisheries minister called for an expanded annual seal hunt Thursday, thumbing his nose at a proposed move by the Eu... more -
EU moves to limit cruelty of seal hunts
The European Commission adopted proposals on Wednesday to ban the import of pelts from seals that have endured excessive suffering while being killed, risking possible trade conflicts with hunting nations.
While stopping short of calling for a total ban, the EU's executive body said products from the 900,000 seals hunted each year should be accepted in the EU only with guarantees that the seal has been killed as humanely as possible.
None of the 15 seal species that are currently hunted is endangered, but European environmentalists and politicians have demanded action after finding evidence that seals are often skinned while still conscious.
Typically, they are first shot or bludgeoned over the head with a spiked club known as a hakapik.
"European citizens find these practices repugnant," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told reporters. "Seal products coming from countries which practice hunting methods that involve unnecessary pain and suffering must not be allowed to enter the EU."
It recommended that seals first be shot or clubbed and then monitored to check they are dead before being bled and skinned, to ensure they never regain consciousness during the process.
The animal welfare group IFAW welcomed the move, but a spokesman said that anything short of a full ban would be difficult to monitor or enforce.
Canada, Greenland and Namibia account for about 60 percent of the 900,000 seals hunted each year, the rest being killed in Iceland, Norway, Russia, the United States, Sweden, Finland and Britain. The European Commission adopted proposals on Wednesday to ban the import of pelts from seals that have endured excessive suffering whi... more -
EU to ban trade in 'cruelly' obtained seal fur
The outcry over horrific images of the clubbing and hunting of seals and their pups is behind new European Union proposals to ban the trade in "cruelly" obtained seal fur.
The move will deal a blow to Canada's centuries-old commercial harp seal hunt, which is worth over GBP16 million in exports. This year 275,000 harp seals were earmarked for slaughter.
Stavros Dimas, European Environment Commissioner, today announced plans EU ban on all seal products coming from countries that "practice cruel hunting methods".
"The images of seal hunting that circulate around the globe every year are a reminder of the oftentimes gruesome practices used to kill seals," he said.
"European citizens find this practice is repugnant and in contradiction to our standards of animal welfare."
None of the 15 seal species that are currently hunted is endangered but politicians across the EU have demanded action over claims that seals, shot or bludgeoned over the head with a spiked club known as a hakapik, are often skinned while still conscious.
Canada is expected to mount a legal world trade challenge to the EU ban after contesting similar legislation in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Loyola Hearn, Canada fisheries minister, has blamed "misinformation from anti-sealing organisations and extremist groups" on European public pressure for a ban.
Canada, Greenland and Namibia account for about 60 per cent of the 900,000 seals hunted each year, the rest are killed in Iceland, Norway, Russia, the United States, Sweden, Finland and Britain. The outcry over horrific images of the clubbing and hunting of seals and their pups is behind new European Union proposals to ban the ... more -
The Great Canadian White Lie
The Canadian government and media regularly criticize the movement to end the seal hunt for using celebrities to get the message across yet the media usually only reports on the seal hunt only when a celebrity is involved as illustrated in the story link.
Whether it is a baby seal or an adult seal I really dont see the difference in the clubbing to death an innocent animal. And if they were eating all the cod (which is not true) then that is their god given right. The Canadian government and media regularly criticize the movement to end the seal hunt for using celebrities to get the message acros... more -
Protestors demand ban on imports of seal products at EU
Anti-seal hunt demonstrators have staged a protest outside European Union headquarters demanding that the 27-nation bloc impose a total ban on all imports of seal products from Canada and other countries.
Some 250 people took part in the protest Tuesday, which coincided with the opening of seal hunting season in Namibia.
The EU is under pressure from animal rights groups and EU lawmakers to take action over seal hunts, which they say are cruel and inhumane.
The activists have also called for a total hunting ban that would affect Canada, along with Russia, Namibia, Greenland and EU members Finland and Sweden. Canada has the world's largest commerical seal hunt. Anti-seal hunt demonstrators have staged a protest outside European Union headquarters demanding that the 27-nation bloc impose a tota... more -
Canadians defend clubbing 300,000 baby seals each year as part of their culture
Canadians should wear sealskin to celebrate the country's birthday on July 1, an Inuit leader said on Friday, in defiance of a European movement to ban the import of Canadian seal products.
"I am quite tired of other people telling us how to live our lives, without taking the time to learn about our culture and way of life," National Inuit leader Mary Simon said.
"I am calling on Canadians who support us to get some seal clothing and wear it in a show of solidarity to Inuit and other Canadian sealers on Canada Day."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper defends the seal hunt as a traditional way of life among Canada's aboriginal peoples and a an important source of income for many small communities along the Atlantic Coast.
"Sealing is still important to the Inuit economy in 2008," said Simon, who wore a sealskin vest at a public event earlier this month.
"It angers me that animal-rights protesters, ignorant of and callous toward Inuit culture, are trying to take that away."
Simon said she made the plea in response to plans by animal rights protesters to gather in Brussels and demand a prohibition on seal items like furs, skins and health products.
Protesters -- supported by celebrities like Paul McCartney and Brigitte Bardot -- have long objected to the seal hunt for its cruelty. They've won widespread public opinion over the years with graphic footage of young seal pups being bludgeoned to death on the ice.
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Take action to stop the inhumane way the seal pups are slaughtered.
http://www.stopthesealhunt.co.uk Canadians should wear sealskin to celebrate the country's birthday on July 1, an Inuit leader said on Friday, in defiance of a Eu... more -
Animal Rescue - Animal Welfare, Save The Whales, Save Animals - IFAW.org
IFAW documents Canada's 2008 commercial seal hunt
Observers with IFAW have returned after witnessing the slaughter of harp seal pups during this year’s commercial seal hunt.
The team observed and documented sealers on the ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence hunting with hakapiks on the opening day of the hunt.
http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=474 IFAW documents Canada's 2008 commercial seal hunt ... more -
Caribbean monk seal confirmed extinct; Hawaiian and Mediterranean monk seals next?
The U.S. agency focused on the condition of the oceans says the Caribbean monk seal has gone extinct.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Services has confirmed what many biologists have long suspected: the only subtropical seal native to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico is extinct. It also warns that the Hawaiian and Mediterranean monk seals could be next.
The last confirmed sighting of the Caribbean monk seal was in 1952 at Seranilla Bank, between Jamaica and the Yucatan Peninsula.
Biologists say humans left the population unsustainable after over hunting them.
Today, there are fewer than 1,200 Hawaiian and 500 Mediterranean monk seals remaining.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jG7KS792s_njtUMaxoi6... The U.S. agency focused on the condition of the oceans says the Caribbean monk seal has gone extinct. ... more -
Changes To Antarctic Ice Suffocating Seals
Changes to the Antarctic ice shelf are causing seals to fight for air and penguins to give up on their young.
These are the findings of a new study, which illustrates the direct impact climate change is having on the physiology, behaviour and survival of Antarctic species.
In 1998, ecologist and evolutionary biologist Associate Professor Terrie Williams of the University of California at Santa Cruz and her team began a study on Weddell seals in Antarctica.
Three years later, an enormous iceberg detached near Antarctica's McMurdo Sound. According to Williams and her colleagues, the event was caused by global warming, which has likely been melting and weakening ice at the poles.
The 10,900 square kilometre iceberg, named B-15, drifted westward and lodged on nearby Ross Island.
The impact upon the animals of the region was immediate.
"Our first clue that there was a problem was that the seals were not returning to their usual pupping areas, and that there were fewer seals even later in the season," says Williams.
She and her colleagues noticed that the ice around Ross Island did not experience its usual "break-out" that year.
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But we shouldn't care about what our actions are doing to other species,right? Afterall, humans are omnipotent over all the Earth... the evidence of that starkly seen based on its decay. Changes to the Antarctic ice shelf are causing seals to fight for air and penguins to give up on their young. ... more -
Stop Canada's Cruel Sea Hunt
The Canada seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on earth. More than 1 million baby seals have been killed for their fur over the past four years. See how you can help to stop this atrocity. The Canada seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on earth. More than 1 million baby seals have been killed for their fu... more
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Did police need to raid Anti-sealing vessel?
"We were told that we were under arrest for violation of the Seal Protection Act," the 59-year-old father said. "We were treated as prisoners. Many of the crew were handcuffed and transferred from our vessel to the coast guard icebreaker Des Groseilliers." "We were told that we were under arrest for violation of the Seal Protection Act," the 59-year-old father said. "We wer... more
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Seal cubs threatened by global warming WWF warns
Hamburg, Germany (AFP)
Hundreds of newborn seal cubs risk dying of hunger and cold because global warming is making ice in the Arctic Circle melt too fast, the World Wide Fund for Nature in Germany warned Monday. "In some parts perhaps not a single one of the seal cubs born in the past few weeks will survive," the WWF said in a statement.
It said hundreds of the roughly 1,500 ringed seal cubs born this month and last month were in danger.
Seal cubs spend the first weeks of their lives in burrows dug in the ice sheet but if that melts, they find themselves in the ocean before they have built up a fat layer that will enable them to survive, WWF's Cathrin Muenster said.
"When the ice melts too fast, the cubs end up in the ice water before they have their insulating fat layer, and they die painfully of hunger and cold."
The WWF said there was less ice in the Arctic this winter than at any point in the past 300 years.
It said the seal cubs most at risk were those along the southwest coast of Finland, the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga, but warned that the layer of pack ice in the Gulf of Bothnia between Sweden and Finland is also thinner than usual.
WWF estimates that there are between 7,000 and 10,000 ringed seals in the Arctic, compared to 180,000 a century ago.
Scientists say the Arctic is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the planet. The phenomenon also puts at risk polar bears who could become extinct as their natural habitat melts away.
end. Hamburg, Germany (AFP) ... more
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