The New York Times: NJ winter visitor, the harp seal, faces threats from mild winter
A harp seal pup lay on the ice in 2008 near Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Photo credit: The New York Times
The annual hunt for harp seals off the coast of eastern Canada will barely take place this year. But this is not good news for the seals. An exceptionally mild winter in the usually frigid Gulf of St. Lawrence has combined with several related factors to discourage Canadian hunters from pursuing the seal pups, whose pelts are prized by the fur industry. The grim spectacle of pups being bludgeoned on the ice by hunters has long been cited by animal rights activists seeking to curtail the annual hunt.
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