Seals are supposed to be protected under UK law, but salmon farmers can get a special licence that makes it legal for them to shoot and kill these marine animals, who are just trying to feed themselves and their families in order to survive. The shooting continues throughout the animals’ breeding season, which takes place […]
Tag: seals
Endangered Hawaiian monk seals face new challenge: eels stuck up their noses
The Hawaiian monk seal has become endangered due to a range of threats, from fishing net entanglements to disease. Now the beleaguered species is facing an unexpected new challenge – eels getting stuck up their noses. A picture of a monk seal with an eel up its nose was shared this week by a Hawaii-based […]
‘Mate, what just happened?’ Seal slaps kayaker in face with octopus
A kayaker paddling in the waters around New Zealand has been given an unusually close look at its marine life when a seal appeared to throw an octopus at him. Kyle Mulinder was enjoying a clear day on waters off the coast of Kaikōura in the South Island when he was slapped in the face […]
Japan Has Killed Over 50 Minke Whales in a Protected Area of Antarctica
Japanese whalers have already harpooned and slaughtered over 50 minke whales this year in an area of the Ross Sea in Antarctica that is off-limits to fishing. They have done this by labeling their slaughter for “scientific purposes.” The hunting of whales for profit has been banned since 1986 but Japan, Iceland and Norway have […]
POLL: Should Orcas be bred and displayed in Chinese marine parks?
SeaWorld announced a year ago that it would end orca breeding at its parks in the U.S. One year later and nearly 8,000 miles away in China, another such program is just getting started. The Chimelong Group, one of the country’s biggest amusement park operators, revealed that it opened a breeding center for orcas on […]
Alaska seal can be protected based on future climate threat, court says
Species can be listed as “threatened” and receive protection based on climate change projections that stretch until the end of the century, a federal appeals court has ruled, in a decision that could have major implications for the fate of animals as their environment rapidly changes. A three-judge panel at the US ninth circuit court […]
POLL: Should Namibia’s cape fur seal trade be banned?
Namibian Sunshine isn’t what you might think. It’s oil derived from the blubber of the Cape fur seal, advertised online as rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and allegedly more readily absorbed by the human body—given its mammalian source—than fish oil. Since 2005 Namibia has exported almost 33,000 gallons of sunshine, nearly a third to China. […]
US Navy banned from using sonar that harms dolphins and walruses
A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the US Navy was wrongly allowed to use sonar in the nation’s oceans that could harm whales and other marine life. The ninth circuit court of appeals reversed a lower court decision upholding approval granted in 2012 for the Navy to use low-frequency sonar for training, testing […]
