Canada's annual seal hunt begins -- this time, with a higher quota

TORONTO — Canada's annual seal hunt got under way Thursday despite a dwindling market for pelts and other byproducts following a European Union import ban and slumping demand.

Nelson Kalil, manager of communications at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada department, said about 30 to 40 boats are expected to head to Newfoundland and Labrador's northern tip to participate in this season's seal hunt, the world's largest.

The department has increased this year's seal hunt quota by 50,000 animals to a total of 330,000 because hunting restrictions have resulted in a rising seal herd population, estimated at 6.9 million -- more than triple what it was in the 1970s.

However, Frank Pinhorn, executive director of the Canadian Sealers Assn., said sealers will take a fraction of the annual quota because only one of the four regular purchasers is buying harp pelts this year.

"We expect 20-25 percent of the quota will be harvested so they'll probably bring in 50,000 to 60,000 out of the 330,000 quota," Pinhorn told The Associated Press.

Orphaned seal pup whose mother was killed by hunter finds a home at a wildlife sanctuary in Alaska

SEWARD, Alaska — A rescue center in Alaska has taken in an orphaned baby seal that was still in the womb when a hunter killed its mother on Easter Sunday.

The Alaska SeaLife Center says a subsistence hunter killed the pup's mother in a village on Nelson Island in the Bering Sea. The hunter then realized there was a live pup inside the seal and successfully delivered it.

The hunter's daughter found a hot line for the Seward rescue center and called to report the incident.

Guided by center staff, a village teacher helped transport the pup to the local airport, and the animal was flown to Anchorage.

SeaLife Center staff members met the pup, now called Maxwell, at the Anchorage airport and drove him to Seward on Monday.

Staff members say the pup has responded well to food and care, but his condition is still considered critical.

On elephant seals and the man who studies them

What sort of person spends years of his life tracking the decidedly persnickety elephant seal on a windblown, inhospitable island off the California coast? A uniquely dedicated one, that's for sure. Our colleague Joe Mozingo has an insightful look at the life and work of marine mammal research scientist Brent Stewart and the behemoths he's spent his career studying; here's an excerpt:

The marine biologist picks his way down a mud ravine into the belching, bellowing madness of Cardwell Point.

All eyes are upon him, this short ruddy creature with an orange jacket, red beard and sturdy legs that seem to glide effortlessly across the sand.

Brent Stewart has studied elephant seals for 31 years and knows they are watching him. He scans the wind-scoured sand spit for rogue bulls -- bilious giants of blubber, muscle, whisker and teeth. They come here from the deepest, coldest reaches of the North Pacific to mate, and they don't like interlopers.

Stewart has witnessed epic battles among them, pendulous snouts flailing like medieval maces, chunks of bloody flesh flung into the air, deep thwacks piercing the endless din of the wind. There is no way not to ponder the fragility of the human spine in such moments.

He walks warily into the fray this February afternoon, hundreds deep, keeping an eye open for escape routes.

"They're quiet and sneaky," he says. "When their eyes get all scrunched up, that's when you want to run."

Canadian Parliament: Let them eat seal

TORONTO — The Canadian Parliament's restaurant will serve seal meat this week in support of hunters battling a European Union ban on seal products, a Liberal Party senator said Monday.

Celine Hervieux-Payette said Wednesday's seal meat lunch menu will allow politicians to demonstrate their backing for the annual hunt.

"All political parties will have the opportunity to demonstrate to the international community the solidarity of the Canadian Parliament behind those who earn a living from the seal hunt," she said in a statement.

The EU ban on seal imports was imposed last July on the grounds that Canada's annual hunt was inhumane.

The East Coast seal hunt, the largest in the world, kills an average of 275,000 harp seals during mid-November to mid-May. The seals are either shot or hit over the head with a spiked club called a hakapik.

Sea lions starting to return to San Francisco's Pier 39

Sea lions are returning to San Francisco's Pier 39 after an abrupt disappearance that left tourists disappointed and experts baffled.

The number is fluctuating. But the population appears to be making a slow return after mysteriously ballooning to about 1,700 during Thanksgiving week, then dwindling to a handful in the following days.

Jim Oswald of the Marine Mammal Center says a couple dozen sea lions were lounging Tuesday on the floating docks.

Marine experts say the animals come and go regularly, leaving in the fall to breed and give birth to their young in the Channel Islands.

Oswald says the large numbers seen in November, and their sudden departure, were unusual but not worrisome. He says they were probably looking for food.

-- Associated Press

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Photo: Sea Lions sunbathe on a dock at Pier 39 last week. Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

PETA supporter Pamela Anderson writes Canada's prime minister asking for an end to seal hunt

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Pamela Anderson sent a letter Saturday to Canada's prime minister requesting an end to the country's annual seal hunt.

The Canadian actress and spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals dropped the letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a mailbox in front of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans office.

Anderson called the hunt "an embarrassment to Canada" at a news conference, saying she made the appeal during the Winter Olympic Games here because "the whole world is watching Canada."

Canada's annual East Coast seal hunt from mid-November to mid-May, mostly in Newfoundland and Labrador and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is the largest in the world, killing an average of 275,000 harp seals.

The hunt has long been controversial. Animal rights groups believe it is cruel, poorly monitored and provides little economic benefit. Seal hunters and Canadian authorities say it is sustainable, humane and provides income for isolated communities.

Europeans not buying products from Canada's annual seal hunt? Canada tries to sell to China, instead

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Canada's fisheries minister courted Chinese officials in a bid to secure new markets for the country's controversial seal industry as other nations shut their doors on the maligned products.

Gail Shea and several Canadian sealing companies paraded a collection of sealskin fashions, seal oils and medical uses for seal organs at the International Leather and Fur Show in Beijing on Tuesday.

Shea said she's trying to develop markets for new seal products like meat, organs and oils after the European Union nations gave their final approval in July to a ban on imports of seal products.

"The EU was a small market for Canada. Of course, we're disappointed in their actions," Shea told reporters by phone from China.

"There are many other markets out there. That's what we're doing in China -- we're trying to expand on the market that's here."

Marine mammal mystery: Sea lions disappear from San Francisco's Pier 39

SAN FRANCISCO — Last month, marine scientists counted more than 1,500 sea lions on fabled Pier 39, a record number that delighted tourists and baffled experts. Why so many?  Why were they sticking around?  But now, almost all of the sea lions are gone, leaving the experts guessing where they went -- and why.

"Most likely, they left chasing a food source," said Jeff Boehm, executive director of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, which runs an information center and gift shop at Pier 39. "It's probably what kept them here in the first place."

On Tuesday, 10 sea lions lounged and swam and dived from the docks, spreading themselves out where the animals were stacked three and four deep just a month ago. The bulk of the herd probably followed their favorite foods, sardines and anchovies, Boehm said.

The animals began leaving in droves the day after Thanksgiving, almost as if someone had issued an order. But Boehm said the fact that so many sea lions stayed for so long is even stranger than their disappearance.

Sacramento fisherman pleads not guilty to animal cruelty charges after allegedly shooting sea lion

YUBA CITY, Calif. — A Sacramento fisherman accused of shooting a sea lion in the head has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of cruelty to animals.

Larry Legans, 43, entered the plea today in a Sutter County courtroom.

Authorities say Legans fired his shotgun at the sea lion along the Sacramento River because he was tired of watching the protected animals take his fish.

The 300- to 500-pound male sea lion was spotted with a gunshot wound on a dock in Sacramento on Nov. 11. Authorities say they arrested Legans after a fisherman reported seeing him shoot the sea lion.

The animal is recovering at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, where officials say its condition has stabilized. It could eventually be released back into the wild.

-- Associated Press

Photo: Rescue workers from the Marine Mammal Center try to capture the injured sea lion in Knights Landing, Calif., on Dec. 4, 2009.  Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

California sea lion surplus seen on Oregon coast

The population of California sea lions along the Oregon coast appears higher than normal this year.

Biologists say it happens every few years, and it may be due to El Nino, the Pacific Ocean warming cycle.

The scientists say El Nino has pushed many of the so-called "forage fish" -- such as herring, squid, hake, sardine and anchovies -- north from California into Oregon waters.

Jim Rice of Oregon State University says the OSU Marine Mammal Stranding Network has gotten plenty of calls in the past month about the sea lions.

But Rice says don't worry, the sea lions are not stranded -- they're just following the food, and it's getting a little crowded.

-- Associated Press

File photo of California sea lions in 2008 relaxing on Seal Rock amid a pleasant day at sunset as viewed from a boat in Crescent Bay Beach, Laguna Beach. Credit: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times