DFO Shirks Duty, Delivers Death Sentence to 500 Narwhals

(Nov. 26, 2008)--This week--rather than sending a Coast Guard icebreaker to free an estimated 500 narwhals trapped in the ice on the north shore of Baffin Island--the Canadian government allowed hunters in Nunavut to slaughter the whales. As of Nov. 25 the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had estimated that local hunters had killed more than 300 of the whales, and the killing continues. The quota for Nunavut hunters this year was 130 narwhals, which has already been exceeded by more than 260 whales.

“Local hunters shot the narwhals as they surfaced to breathe in the only leads of open water,” said Rebecca Aldworth, director of Humane Society International/Canada. “The DFO has tried to defend its unconscionable choice not to break the ice and free the whales, claiming that the noise of the icebreaker would have been ‘stressful’ for the narwhals. Clearly, the deafening blasts of the rifles, and the volumes of blood filling the water in the only breathing holes available is far more stressful.”

As of Nov. 24, no DFO enforcement officers were on the scene, and more than 200 whales had already been killed, making this a largely unregulated slaughter. Veterinary authorities agree that killing whales is inherently inhumane because of their large size. Instant kills are rare—even with grenade tipped harpoons—it can take several minutes and as long as an hour or more for whales to die.

The DFO makes multiple icebreakers available to assist sealing vessels at taxpayers’ expense for months on end during the annual commercial seal hunt, but has refused to use one to break a path to freedom for 500 trapped whales.

Conservationists note that along with polar bears, narwhals are the marine mammal species most susceptible to the impacts of global warming. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has put narwhals on their “red list” – the species that are at the highest risk of global extinction. The Canada-Greenland Joint Commission on the Conservation and Management of Narwhal and Beluga and the International Whaling Commission have both stated that narwhal hunting may not be sustainable.

For critical animal welfare and conservation reasons, Humane Society International/Canada is once again calling on the DFO to immediately suspend the narwhal slaughter, and deploy a Coast Guard icebreaker to save the remaining 200 whales.