No trapped narwhal in Pond Inlet

[Animal 0]

No trapped narwhal in Pond Inlet

Thursday, December 3, 2009
CBC News

People in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, are relieved that no narwhal were trapped in
sea ice near their community this year.
(Je crois que c'est plutôt le contraire...)


Around this time last year, more than 600 whales became stuck in shrinking
areas of open water near Bylot Island, about 17 kilometres from Pond Inlet,
as the winter ice set in around them.

The Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization and others in the
community of 1,300 worked around the clock to deal with the situation, in
which the whales risked dying of asphyxiation under the ice.

The hunters eventually obtained permission to cull the trapped whales,
sparking outrage from animal-rights groups.

By contrast, this year the weather has been cooperating and the sea ice is
more stable, organization chairman Jayko Allooloo told CBC News.

Speaking in Inuktitut, Allooloo said the narwhals faced fast-moving chunks
of ice near Pond Inlet that prevented them from getting out into open water
last year.

Allooloo said hunters and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans
were put on alert this year, just in case.

But the whales managed to get out into open water successfully this year, he
added.


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2009/12/03/pond-inlet-narwhals.html