Hundreds of seal pups drown in Canada storm surgeby David Ljunggren Reuters 3 February 2006
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Around 1,500 seal pups were swept out to sea and
drowned by a tidal surge off Canada's east coast this week after a lack
of ice cover meant their mothers were forced to give birth on a small
island, environment officials said on Friday.
A resident on the island described how the mother seals had frantically
tried to push their tiny pups back on to land as they floundered in the
storm-tossed water.
Grey seals in the Northumberland Strait — which lies between the
provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island — usually give birth
on the pack ice which forms in winter.
But abnormally warm conditions this year mean there is no ice in the
strait, so some seals had to give birth on the beaches of Pictou
Island. Unusually high tides hit the island this week after a major
storm.
More at StopGlobalWarmin.org:
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/learn/read.asp?42718262006