Seal pups dying en masse as ice floes melt
By Julio Godoy
BERLIN, Apr 3 (Tierramérica) – Ringed seals in the Baltic Sea are finding fewer and fewer ice caves in which to raise their young. Rising global temperatures are the problem, and in turn are depleting the main food source of the giant polar bear, say scientists. …
According to the latest report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the near total ice melt in some parts of the Baltic, especially the gulfs of Bothnia and Riga, and the Åland archipelago, threatens the survival of the newborn seals there. …
“Ringed seals give birth in mid-February and raise their pups in the first seven or eight weeks in caves formed on floating ice, while the pups put on enough fat to survive the icy ocean waters,” the WWF’s Baltic Sea biodiversity expert, Cathrin Münster, told Tierramérica.
“The lack of ice around the Åland islands and in the Gulf of Riga means that the seals born this winter don’t have that protection and surely will not survive,” she added.
With a weakened or insufficient ice field to sustain them, the seal pups are forced to swim in the frigid waters without the vital protection of a layer of fat, and they die of hypothermia and malnutrition. …
Münster believes the massive deaths of Baltic seals are both an announcement and a consequence of climate change. “Without ice, the ringed seal, like many other species in the northernmost regions, cannot survive,” she said.
The seal pups need at least 90 days on the ice to survive. Furthermore, the ice floes must be extensive and thick enough to ensure the protection of the newborns. …
