Shrinking Ice Cover Threatens Canadian Seal Population

... which could inadvertently put an end to the seal hunt.

And in other animal-preserving news, new research from Duke University suggests Canada's seal population faces an even bigger threat than the annual tradition of hunters clubbing them to death – climate change. The ever-decreasing ice cover in the North Atlantic contributed to 80 per cent of harp seal pups born in 2011 dying before the year was out. Harp seal mothers give birth to and raise their offspring on ice patches throughout Canada's East Coast, but with less and less ice each year, they've essentially lost their habitats, and there's no sign that the seals have begun to swim further north to areas with more robust ice cover. The study, undertaken in partnership with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, found that ice cover in the four traditional breeding grounds for harp seals has disappeared at a rate of six per cent per decade since 1970. IFAW says the harp seal faces extinction from Canada's coastal waters if the annual seal hunt is allowed to continue. Of course, with bans against seal imports now in place in Russia and the EU effectively eliminating the biggest markets for seal products, the seal hunt looks headed toward extinction on its own, but we suppose this adds further impetus to get communities that rely on sealing to start looking for new sources of income.