“We have no choice but to kill them all.”. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. A single beluga can weigh more than 1,000 kilograms. Fellow villagers helped the hunter by using water pumps to keep ice from reforming overnight. The flock of gentle, ghost-white whales were trapped in ice floes in the Sinyavinsky Strait off the Bering Sea near the village of Yanrakynnot, said a … The belugas only had one breathing hole, around which the Inuvialuit stood to harpoon the whales and pull out their bodies. Local authorities have urged Moscow to send an icebreaker to free them. ‘We have no choice but to kill them all’: Beluga whales trapped by Nunavut ice providing feast for polar bears and people, Margaret Butschler/Vancouver Aquarium handout, tap here to see other videos from our team. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. After the path was cut observers could find no sign of the whales and the operation was declared a success. Do you want to report an error or a typo? The hunter used a chainsaw to attempt cutting a path in the ice leading to open water. The whales … Required fields are marked *. The local government paid hunters $79,000 to kill 39 of the trapped whales. Fifteen miles south of the village of Yanrakynnot in the Sinyavinsky Strait, 100 beluga whales are trapped in the ice. Lured by the regions’ shrinking ice cover, however, the iconic black-and-white whale has been gradually expanding its range to capitalize on polar populations of meaty, slow-moving prey. The flock of gentle ghost-white whales was trapped in ice floes in … Read more about cookies here. Hunters came across the belugas last week when they noticed as many as eight polar bears crowded around two holes in the ice no wider than one or two metres apiece. “Belugas trapped in icy Arctic waters at risk of death,” CNN, “Operation resumes to rescue South Korean trawler in Chukotka,” Voice of Russia, “Hunters harvest whales trapped in ice,” MSNBC, “No intervention on trapped Belugas in Husky Lakes,” CBC, Mia Bennett is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and School of Modern Languages & Cultures (China Studies Programme) at the University of Hong Kong. ‘We have no choice but to kill them all’: Beluga whales trapped by Nunavut ice providing feast for polar bears and people Hunters came across the … 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4. One photo, taken by Arnak Manumik, shows two men straining to haul one of the whales on to the ice by the tail. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings. Prisoners in ice, more than 100 Beluga whales in far eastern Russia risk death unless rescued soon. • Email: thopper@nationalpost.com | Twitter: TristinHopper. Though they normally swim out of the lakes and back to the ocean before the freeze-up, a storm had suddenly frozen the waterway. The Vladimir Arseniev cleared the icy rubble to create a large enough path for the remaining two whales to theoretically escape. In 1986, an icebreaker off Chukotka rescued dozens of trapped belugas. In 2008, hunters in Pond Inlet culled a record 629 narwhals that had become trapped in a three-kilometre stretch of breathing holes. Peter Inukpuk, mayor of the Northern Quebec village of Inukjua, made a formal request to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to dispatch an icebreaker to free the whales. Hunters came across the belugas last week when they noticed as many as eight polar bears crowded around two holes in the ice no wider than one or two metres apiece. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. The length and depth of the lakes, which form a 25-mile chain up to 100 feet deep in parts, made rescue impossible. Prisoners in ice, more than 100 Beluga whales in far eastern Russia risk death unless rescued soon. We encountered an issue signing you up. Your comments will be pre-moderated and published if they meet netiquette guidelines. Beluga whales, which are not endangered, occasionally become trapped within the ice, but it is rare that humans discover the incidents in time to help save the animals. Roman Kopin, governor of Chukotka, has written letters to the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Emergency Situations requesting an icebreaker to aid the beluga whales. A welcome email is on its way. Since the belugas likely would have died anyway, it was decided that it would be more humane to kill them quickly – a “mercy kill” – and make use of their meat, which can sustain Inuvialuit families through the winter. Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. On October 28,[2] the Soviet Admiral Makarov broke apart a ridge of Arctic ice that was 400 yards wide and 30 feet high. In December, 2011, news of 100 trapped belugas in Russia’s Far East prompted the Russian government to stage an emergency rescue by icebreaker. He suggested the marine rescue boat Ruby as a possible source of salvation for the whales. [1] A Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane heavylift helicopter was tasked to create holes in the ice using a 5-ton hammer.[3]. [2] Word spread through the Inupiat community about the whales, and biologists from North Slope Borough, Alaska, visited the site and realized the danger. However, food and clean water will soon run out, and the whales will likely die of exhaustion or starvation if the ice is not soon broken up. However, the remaining two whales were reportedly in very poor health at the time of the rescue and because radio tags were never attached it is unknown if the animals survived. [1] The hunter used a chainsaw to attempt cutting a path in the ice leading to open water. Hunters have reported that they are in two polynyas and are currently able to breathe freely. All of its 90 crew members managed to escape on inflatable boats, but there are still 1,100 gallons of flammable liquid onboard the ship.
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