<DIV>Bad for the seals right now, but possibly a safe haven? Here's the news item...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060131/seals_birth_060131/20060131?hub=SciTech" target=_blank><FONT color=#003399>http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060131/seals_birth_060131/20060131?hub=SciTech</FONT></A> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <H3>Seals move to Nova Scotia islands to give birth</H3> <div class=timeStamp>Updated Tue. Jan. 31 2006 11:31 PM ET</div> <div class=storyAttributes><SPAN></SPAN>CTV.ca News</div> <div>The warm winter weather has forced thousands of grey seals onto the shores of Pictou Island, N.S. to give birth.</div> <div>Normally the seals would be out on ice floes in the middle of the Northumberland Strait, but the warm weather had resulted in a lack of ice.</div> <div>"There is practically no ice cover at all in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is unusual," Leroy MacEachern, of the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said.</div> <div>"That is even different than last year when we had seals come ashore on the coastline of Nova Scotia."</div> <div>The normal human population of the island in wintertime is 18, but the total population has exploded with the arrival of the seals.</div> <div>"It (the population) has grown by several thousand in the last few days to at least two thousand, possibly three," island resident Jane MacDonald joked.</div> <div>Seals may look cute and cuddly, but the DFO -- which says it is illegal to harass seals -- is warning the public to leave the wild animals alone. The agency says seals may attack if they are cornered or threatened.</div> <div>The female seals will abandon their pups after three weeks. But the pups will stay either onshore or close to shore for another two to three weeks, at which time they'll shed their white coats for grey, mottled ones.</div> <div>Some local fishermen believe that the large
seal population needs to be culled.</div> <div>"They're getting out of hand," Ron MacDonald, a local fisherman, said. "There are a lot more seals every year than there have been over the last 20 years. The population is increasing and there doesn't seem to be much of a cull to keep them under control." </div> <div>Some of the Pictou Island residents, however, feel protective of the seals.</div> <div>"Whether it's instinctive or whether or not it was just the way the wind was blowing, it seems that they somehow feel safer here," Jane MacDonald said, as a baby seal nuzzled some seaweed laying on the sand. </div> <div> </div> <div>The isolation of the island is a safe place for the seals as the only way to get there is by charter plane.</div></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=gmail_quote> </SPAN></DIV> <DIV> </DIV><p>
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