Seal Hunt Delayed 2nd Year Due to Ice Breakup

From National Geographic News:

Thin ice is killing baby seals in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence by the thousands and forcing the delay of the area's annual harp seal hunt for the second year in a row.

The controversial tradition, the world's largest marine-mammal hunt, was originally slated to begin on March 28. It is now expected to kick off sometime later this week, say officials with Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).

Many of the young animals—unable to swim well and poorly insulated from the chilly waters—are drowning, animal welfare groups say.

The ice conditions this year are so poor that the hunt should be cancelled altogether, says the nonprofit International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Satellite imagery shows that this year's ice coverage is even less than 2002, when experts estimate that about three-quarters of Canada's seal pups died because of thin ice...

It's the fifth year of bad ice out of the last seven, intensifying a recent trend that many believe is the effect of human-caused global warming...
______________________

That sounds like a tradition to do away with.