Wildlife Alert: Massive Whale Massacre Gets Canadian Greenlight

November 25, 2008

Canadian authorities recently authorized Inuit hunters that they may begin killing a group of whales that had become stranded near Baffin island. The original numbers had placed these whales at about 200 animals. They had become trapped in the arctic ice and their survival was looked upon as futile and very unlikely. Inuit hunters began killing the narwhal whales earlier in the week. By weeks end, whales were still surfacing in the area on a regular basis. It is now believed that there could be as many as 400 whales trapped in the ice with little chance of survival.

Narwhal whales are one of very few species of whale (if not the only one) to have a tusk that protrudes from it’s face. This tusk can be upwords of 10 feet in length. The narwhal is also thought to be the only whale species that inhabits the arctic for the full extent of it’s life. Males can weigh in excess of 3,500 pounds, with females slightly smaller.

Canada’s Federal Fisheries and Oceans officials have assured everyone that all parts of the narwhal harvest are being used to benefit the people. The ivory tusks are to be sold internationally, while the blubber and meat will be sold through local merchants.

These same officials are starting to come under some heat for not evaluating and knowing the situation before allowing the Inuit hunters to harvest the animals. The narwhal is not an endangered species. Estimates place the animal at between 20,000 and 50,000 individual animals worldwide.

Inuit hunters resumed harvesting the narwhals with guns and harpoons Monday after spending most of Sunday trying to make the breathing holes larger.

The whales are trying to breathe through about 11 holes in the ice, most no bigger than a desk. In the panic to reach the holes, the larger adult whales have accidentally pushed young calves up onto the sea ice on at least two occasions.

“It’s not a pretty sight,” said Allan Hawkes, the Co-op store manager in Pond Inlet who is selling the whale blubber to other Arctic communities and the ivory tusks to international buyers.

This is coming from Canada’s National Post.

It is not known how long the killings will continue, or exactly how many whales might be in this general area. It is thought that he narwhals went to the area in search of food, but then became trapped in the fast freezing arctic waters.

What are your thoughts on this?

Supposedly there is no way out of the area for these whales and they will die. Is it right for the Canadian government to step in and allow the Inuit to harvest these animals, or should they have allowed nature to take it’s course? I am sure that nobody imagined that 400 or more narwhals would be congregated in one place and become trapped. My thoughts are that the authorities should have examined the situation, known how many animals were there and how many were being affected, then looked for an alternative to killing them.

I am also against the Canadian government selling the ivory from these whales. My beliefs on this issue stem from the fact that, internationally, the ivory trade is looked down upon for supporting and allowing poachers to profit. This is not a way to deter these kinds of activities from happening. Others may find solace in knowing that they can profit from this animal without much harm being done to the population. That would be a big mistake for these lovely arctic creatures. It may be to late to do anything about this incident, but you can bet that I am going to voice my opinion to the Canadian officials and government about this incident. Surely there is a beter way and obviously more research needed to be done in this situation before greenlighting a massive whale massacre. I will keep you posted of any new developements.

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