Seals hit by climate change

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has issued a report saying climate change is thinning the ice cover off Newfoundland, which is affecting harp and hooded seals.

The report says the ice cover in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the province of Newfoundland has been much smaller than average in six of the past seven years. This hurts harp and hooded seals, which give birth on the ice in late February and March and nurse their young for about 12 days.

A senior science advisor with IFAW said the annual hunt should be cut to 50,000 seals to allow the species to rejuvenate.

Last year, the federal government allowed hunters to cull 307,000 harp and hooded seals. The total population of the two seal species is estimated at more than five million.