http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081127.wnarwhal27/BNStory/National/homeDeath of narwhals decriedDid the federal government miss an opportunity to save some 500 narwhals that became stranded in an Arctic inlet when the ice suddenly closed in this month?
The Humane Society International/Canada thinks so and on Wednesday issued a statement attacking the Department of Fisheries Oceans for failing to get a Coast Guard icebreaker to open a channel through the ice to the whales, trapped near the hamlet of Pond Inlet, on the north coast of Baffin Island.
About 300 of them have been shot and harpooned by local hunters, and the remaining whales are in the process of being harvested.
Videos show the narwhals pushing against each other as they struggle to get to the surface to breathe at small air holes. The nearest open ocean is about 50 kilometres away.
“Local hunters shot the narwhals as they surfaced to breathe in the only leads of open water,” Rebecca Aldworth, director of Humane Society International/Canada, said in a statement. “The DFO has tried to defend its unconscionable choice not to break the ice and free the whales, claiming that the noise of the icebreaker would have been ‘stressful' for the narwhals. Clearly, the deafening blasts of the rifles, and the volumes of blood filling the water in the only breathing holes available is far more stressful.”
The Humane Society International/Canada described the whale harvest as “inherently inhumane” because whales die slowly when shot and harpooned.
Mike Richards, senior administrative officer for Pond Inlet, said that when the Coast Guard said it couldn't get a ship to the area in a reasonable time, DFO authorized the slaughter.
He said the whales probably would all be dead by now if hunters and trappers hadn't gone out to keep the air holes open.
“Quite a few of the smaller ones are getting killed by the larger whales in the pod. They are crowding in for the air and it's just kind of heartbreaking really. It's pretty clear they would all have died if the efforts hadn't been made [by hunters] to enlarge those holes,” he said.
He said “there's a lot of sympathy for these animals from local residents,” but the hunting and trapping community hasn't questioned the need to harvest the trapped animals.
“When people live off the land they take what they get. It's the same situation when caribou come through. There's no discussion. Everybody goes out hunting.”
DFO officials declined to comment on Wednesday.
The whales are trapped in Eclipse Sound, between Baffin Island and Bylot Island. Usually narwhals have migrated through the area by the end of September or early October, but this year they lingered and got trapped.
