In this image taken from footage provided by the RU-RTR Russian television on Sunday, 4 December 2022, journalists and Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor’s Office employees walk near the bodies of dead seals on shore of the Caspian Sea, Dagestan. A top Russian environmental official said Monday that the thousands of dead seals that washed up on Russia’s Caspian Sea coast likely died from oxygen deprivation. Photo: RU-RTR Russian Television / AP

Russia: Mass seal death likely due to oxygen deprivation

MOSCOW, 5 December 2022 (AP) – A top Russian environmental official said Monday that the thousands of dead seals that washed up on Russia’s Caspian Sea coast likely died from oxygen deprivation. Officials in the republic of Dagestan, which has a long coastline on the world’s largest inland body of water, said this week that […]

Climate change killing harp seal pups as sea ice habitat melts away

By Alexander Holmgren 20 August 2013 (mongabay.com) – As sea ice levels continue to decline in the northern hemisphere, scientists are observing an unsettling trend in harp seal young mortalities regardless of juvenile fitness. While a recent study found that in harp seal breeding regions ice cover decreased by up to 6% a decade from […]

Canada’s commercial seal slaughter opens despite no quota and no demand – Government of Newfoundland and Labrador paid $3.6 million in taxpayer subsidies

TORONTO, ONTARIO (IFAW) – Canada’s commercial seal hunt opens off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador today, despite a lack of demand for seal products and restrictions on seal products in 34 countries. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) questions why the Canadian government insists on wasting millions of tax dollars supporting an industry […]

Alaska polar bears observed with patchy hair loss and other skin lesions

Contact Information:Paul Laustsen, USGS, 650-329-4046Bruce Woods, US F&WS, 907-786-36956 April 2012 ANCHORAGE – In the past two weeks, 9 polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea region near Barrow were observed with alopecia, or loss of fur, and other skin lesions. The animals were otherwise healthy in appearance and behavior. The cause and significance of […]

Canada grey seal hunt a bust

15 March 2012 (CBC News) – An extremely small number of grey seals were killed during the annual hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this year. Sealers said no animals were killed on Hay Island, off Cape Breton, during a hunt that has harvested more than 1,000 animals in past years, and about eight […]

Sea Shepherd declares Canada harp seal slaughter is commercially dead

By Captain Paul Watson29 January 2012 I have been fighting the Canadian seal hunt since 1974. It’s been a long hard road after nearly four decades. During that time I have taken ships into the ice six times, in 1979, 1981, 1983, 1998, 2005, and 2008. I’ve led three helicopter campaigns in 1976, 1977, and […]

Struggling Canada seal slaughter to limp on

Tue May 11, 12:08 pm ET OTTAWA (AFP) – The government extended its Atlantic coast seal hunt on Tuesday to the end of May as hunters shy away from the sea over a lack of sea ice and a European boycott of seal products. Canada’s Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced the seal harvest in Newfoundland […]

EU orders Finland to protect critically endangered seals

By John Platt Finland’s Lake Saimaa is home to one of the world’s rarest seals, the Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis). Just 260 or so of these critically endangered animals remain in the freshwater lake, and now the European Union has told Finland that the country is not doing enough to protect the species. […]

Game of the Day: Polar Bear Payback

Desdemona has a pretty thick skin for catastrophe and mass death, but sometimes an ultra-violent killing spree seems like the only solution. Adult Swim presents Polar Bear PaybackUPDATE: Adult Swim no longer hosts this game, but fortunately it lives on at Crazy Games: Polar Bear Payback.  Thanks to reader Emily for the research!

EU ban and lack of ice end Canada seal slaughter

(AFP) A lack of sea ice in one of the warmest Canadian winters on record and a European boycott have ruined what was to be a banner seal hunt off Canada’s Atlantic coast this month. Canada’s Fisheries Minister Gail Shea last month increased by 50,000 the allowable catch of harp seals this season to 330,000, […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial