Canada Ignores Rescue Option, Kills 500 Endangered Narwhals
The Canadian government opted last week to allow the killing 500 narwhals trapped beneath ice rather than calling in icebreakers to free the animals, claiming the process would have been too stressful for the whales.
Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and star of Animal Planet’s Whale Wars, wrote a lengthy condemnation of the Canadian government’s decision. He noted that the government provides millions to fund ice-breaking for the annual baby seal hunt, but rejected the idea when proposed in order to save the whales.
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Canada allowed Inuit hunters to shoot the whales as they swam one-by-one to the one hole in the ice where they could come up for air. If minimizing stress was the goal, they miserably failed.
Watson believes the decision was made purely for economic reasons: breaking ice costs money, while killing narwhals makes money.
“Where Canada could have delivered the gift of life, they have instead unleashed a torrent of violence that has spewed the hottest of blood into the frigid seas of the high north,” wrote Watson, who is a Canadian citizen.
“Narwhal tusks sell for thousands of dollars and this bonanza was 4 times [the Inuits’] allowed ‘legal’ kill. This was an opportunity to put hundreds of valuable ‘unicorn horns’ on the market and to bring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the economy of the far North,” he continued. “Every Canadian should hang their head in shame at this atrocious environmental crime.”
Correction: Narwhals are in fact merely a threatened species, not endangered. However, there appear to be around 45,000 still in existence, meaning this killing spree wiped out a large chunk of the population. Narwhals also happen to be considered the animal most threatened by climate change, even more so than polar bears. It is also worth noting that the number of narwhals killed in this incident is actually now approaching 600.
Photo Credit: Glenn Williams on WikiMedia Commons under Creative Commons license.
This is one of the most idiotic, undeniably capitalistic, beyond comprehension excuses for slaughter that i have ever heard, it might be worse than “they have weapons of mass destruction”. F*ck*ng Canadian idiots.
Blame Canada
It seems that everything’s gone wrong
Since Canada came along
please to stfu bleeding heart filthy hippies. The animals would die regardless without human intervention. why dont you stop crying over animals and devote your time to helping the homeless or paying for a poor kids college or 1 of the 1000 other much most deserving causes than whales who got stuck under the ice.
You guys are ridiculous.
embarrassment though this story is…..
LOLatcanada: Free loading? you f’n DFA’s (dumb f’n american) steal what you don’t have (which isn’t much), then claim that G.O.D. said it was okay to kill for it all. When you run out of oil, and are paying $10 gallon for our gas, I’ll tell you once again to get on your little scooter and shove off while the rest of the world has a good laugh at your expense. F*** I hate americans.
Harper is pretty stupid… luckily it’s looking like the Conservative’s days are numbered (also due to their sheer stupidity)
I would think that Canada would be more understanding of such situations… but this is shameful. Alas, capitalism reigns over all.
Wow, this article isn’t slanted at all. “He noted that the government provides millions to fund ice-breaking for the annual baby seal hunt”? Give me a break. It’s a seal hunt, they aren’t allowed to harm the baby seals. Absolutely disgusted at the wording of this article. You make it sound as if they’re out killing baby seals as the only goal of the hunt, when in fact the opposite is true! Poor journalism at best, and utter tripe at worst. YOU SIR, should be hanging your head in shame at the misleading way you wrote this article.
Fuck Canada? Fuck you! pussies. do you think ice flows are a recent phenomenon that only started affecting narwhals now? morons. its called natural selection jagoffs!
Baby seals are hunted now? | FAIL
500 endangered narwahls? | FAIL
How about the photo Watson uses of tusked narwhals when in fact, the trapped narwhals (check the CBC video) aren’t tusked? | FAIL
But here’s the best part…
Watson and the boatload of idiots on this forum, fervently believe that Canadian taxpayers should spend millions of $ in a rescue attempt that would see: a rented Russian icebreaker arrive 8 weeks from now; in 24hr darkness; working in -40C below weather; with human lives at stake. And for what? A handful of remaining narwhals that IF they managed to survive, would likely not be more than 20 or 30 animals over the Inuit peoples 130/year cull limit? | ULTIMATE FAIL
Hey Watson… I’ve got a boat for you. I’ll even throw in a map and a toque.