Canadian hunters set out to kill trapped whales [View All]

[Swede]

A team of hunters will kill about 80 beluga whales trapped in a frozen waterway on Canada's Arctic Coast in what local officials said on Thursday is an act of mercy.

The whales have no hope of escape to the open sea after a severe snow storm closed off the long inland waterway and reduced the number of breathing holes in the surface ice to one from eight, said Paul Voudrach, chairman of the Tuktoyaktuk Harvest and Trappers Committee.

He said a team of 10, including eight local hunters, set off from Canada's northernmost mainland community, Tuktoyaktuk, in the Northwest Territories, on Thursday morning to kill the whales.

"There's no more options except to harvest them," Voudrach said. "We don't want them to suffer, we don't want them to starve, and the breathing holes will eventually close up."

He also said rescue options that involve relocating the animals would be "next to impossible" given the scope of the waterway, made up of a string of lakes about 40 kilometers (25 miles) long with water up to 30 meters (100 feet) deep.

The hunters will harpoon the whales one by one as they come up for air before shooting them in a process that will take about two weeks, during which time the whales' blubber will be cut and stored for distribution to the local community.


http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-11-16T212155Z_01_N16415648_RTRIDST_0_CANADA-ENVIRONMENT-CANADA-WHALES-COL.XML&archived=False