Dozens of Seals Turn Up on Icy Streets in Canada. Here's Why.

By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | January 11, 2019 03:12pm ET

An icy town in Newfoundland is dealing with some surprise visitors: a pod of around 40 harp seals.

The seals are stuck 4 to 5 miles (6 to 8 kilometers) from the ocean, according to local fishing guide and bar owner Brendon FitzPatrick, who shared photographs of the animals on Twitter. The animals likely swam into inland bays and streams chasing fish and got disoriented, FitzPatrick wrote on Twitter, adding that this is the highest number of seals seen on shore in the area.

"In the beginning, they were kind of aggressive," Sheila Fitzgerald, the mayor of Roddickton-Bide Am, told NPR. As the days have dragged on and the fish in the town's brooks have become less plentiful, the seals have become more lethargic, Fitzgerald added.

Roddickton-Bide Am is a town of just under 1,000 people situated near the northern tip of Newfoundland. The area is a common wintering site for harp seals. Officials from Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DPO) told the newspaper The Northern Pen that there is little offshore ice near northeastern Newfoundland this year, possibly part of the overall trend of major Arctic melting. With limited sea ice to rest on, the seals may be hauling out closer to the coast, which makes them more vulnerable to following streams inland and getting stuck when streams and bays ice over.

Read more  

Dead blue whale 'might explode' in Newfoundland town

The residents of a town on Canada's Newfoundland island fear a blue whale carcass that washed up on its boardwalk last week could explode at any time.

The 25m (81ft) whale on Trout River's rocky beach is one of several believed to have died in heavy ice weeks ago.

Town Clerk Emily Butler says the body is bloated with methane gas caused by decomposition and will soon reek, regardless of whether it explodes.

Local and federal authorities disagree which are responsible for its disposal.

Ms Butler said the town of 600 people did not have the resources to deal safely with the carcass, though Canadian officials say it is their responsibility.

She told broadcaster NTV that if the town were to push the whale out to sea, it could pose a hazard to passing ships.

Continued

Pod of dolphins die after getting trapped in ice-field

March 2014: Shocking footage has revealed the last desperate moments of around 30 white beaked dolphins trapped in the ice off southwestern Newfoundland.

The pod would have become trapped between the shoreline and the icefield after the emergence of spring caused the heavy pack ice to move south from Labrador to the north and east of Newfoundland and into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Speaking to CTV news the head of Whale Release and Strandings in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's N.L., Wayne Ledwell said: "It was expected because of the heavy ice pack and the strong winds that were forcing them on land". They can panic and die real quick when they’re pushed onshore.”

“The Gulf of St. Lawrence is chock-a-block with pack ice,” he said. That’s a famous area for entrapment because of the pack ice and the way that the peninsula juts out.”

Read more

Two men rescue moose-eating beached shark

Two men successfully rescued a beached shark on the coast of northeast Newfoundland, Canada. Derrick Chaulk was driving in Norris Arm North when he saw what he thought was a beached whale. As reported by CBC News, when he left his vehicle and got closer, he saw that it was a Greenland shark that was still alive and estimated it measured approximately 8 feet and weighed 253 pounds. Greenland sharks are rare in that area but what also seemed unusual was that the animal had a large moose hide sticking out of its mouth. About the hide Derrick told CBC, "It had the fur and all the liner on it — it was about two feet long, maybe."

Continued ...

Newfoundland man charged with killing polar bear

A central Newfoundland man is facing charges after shooting a polar bear to death near Coachman's Cove in April.

Terry Fitzgerald killed the animal with one shot as it ambled toward his community on the Baie Verte Peninsula.

Now he's facing three charges: firing a rifle too close to a home; shooting a polar bear out of season; and shooting a bear without a licence.

Fitzgerald defended his decision to kill the bear, saying he believed he was protecting his children.

"We were just after getting our kids ready for school," he said. "The kids went out waiting for the school bus, and I went out on the back deck. I saw a polar bear coming out of the salt water. From there, I just took off. I went to my father’s house and grabbed a rifle and went to shoot it."

He believes the charges are unfair, arguing that no one else was charged for killing any of the other bears that were shot when they came ashore in Newfoundland and Labrador this year.

"A wildlife officer shot one, and a police officer, and neither of them were charged,” he said.

Fitzgerald is scheduled to appear in court in late June.

Several bears were seen in Newfoundland and Labrador communities this past winter. Four of the animals were shot dead — the one Fitzgerald shot, one in near St. Anthony, one in Greenspond and another in St. Lewis, Labrador.

There were reports of polar bears in other parts of the province where sea ice drifted near shore this spring.

Bears travel on the pack ice that moves close to coastal areas depending on the direction of winds. The large mammals hunt for seals on the ice and sometimes come ashore.

Wildlife officials say anyone who encounters a polar bear should:

• Remain calm.
• Give the bear(s) space.
• Back away, get out of the situation, never run.
• If you must speak, do so calmly and firmly.
• Avoid direct eye contact with the bear(s).

Last November, the federal government classified polar bears a species of special concern — one level below "threatened" and two levels below "endangered" — under the Species at Risk Act.

The "species of special concern" classification requires that a plan must be devised within three years to prevent the species from becoming endangered or threatened.

Ottawa's move comes almost three years after the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, an arm's-length scientific advisory body, recommended the special-concern listing for the polar bear.

The United States listed the polar bear as a threatened species in 2008, citing shrinking sea ice due to climate change.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2012/06/12/nl-bear-charges-612.html?cmp=rss

Wolf shot on Newfoundland and New Brunswick canid confirmed as a wolf

Wolf probably crossed sea ice from Labrador
May 2012. DNA tests have confirmed that a hunter shot a wolf of Newfoundland’s Bonavista Peninsula in March. The hunter was shooting coyotes but realised, after shooting the animal, that it was too large to be a coyote.

New Brunswick wolf
DNA tests have also shown that another wolf was shot in April in New Brunswick, the first seen there for 150 years. Again the hunter was shooting coyotes and only realised after the event that the animal was very large for a coyote.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/newfoundland-wolf.html

Axel The Newfoundland Sits On Roofs Of England While Owner Works

Axel the Newfoundland has become a small-town celebrity for his high-perching ways.

Ever since he was a puppy, roof thatcher Richard Haughton's dog has accompanied his owner to work, sitting on the roofs of East Anglia, UK.

"I took him from seven weeks old and he's been on every job ever since," Haughton told the Telegraph.

Axel mastered the ladder as a puppy, motivated -- like most dogs -- by the pursuit of food. "We were sitting eating a packed lunch. Axel was on one side of the scaffolding, we were up over the ridge on the other and he managed to come up the ladder," his owner told BBC. "We saw him up on the ridge -- basically he thought he was going to get some food -- and he's been up with us all the time ever since."

The 97-pound dog now balances on the narrow rooftops to vantage points as much as 40 feet off the ground, thanks to a boost up the ladder from Haughton. The diligent dog-ployee hasn't missed a day of work in five years, but he has made them better for his owner.

"He's a lovely guy to have around, such a good dog -- he keeps an eye on us, he's like a site manager," Haughton told BBC. And sometimes, clients come bearing snacks for the roof-roof roofer -- and his owner.

video:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/axel-the-newfoundland-roofs-england_n_1450730.html?ref=weird-news

Polar bear shot dead after Newfoundland home break-in

Fifty-five-year-old Louis Reardon got the shock of his life early Thursday when he leapt out of bed to his son's cries of “Polar bear!” as a large male bear broke into their home in northern Newfoundland.

“He had the door busted open to the dining room with his two front paws and his head in through the door,” Mr. Reardon said from tiny Goose Cove, just south of St. Anthony, N.L.

“I mean, it frightened the wits right clean out of me, to be that close to a polar bear.”

Mr. Reardon's son Damien, 29, had heard a ruckus and flicked on the light to discover the animal. Polar bears are notoriously aggressive when cornered, and Damien slammed on a table trying to frighten the intruder as his father raced for a shotgun.

“A polar bear doesn't usually back down,” Mr. Reardon said. “If he came in the house, God knows what he would have done before he went out.”

His other son, his daughter, her three young children and her boyfriend had all been sleeping when the commotion started just after 4 a.m.

Mr. Reardon said the bear was starting to retreat and he fired two shots over its head to frighten it. He didn't want to risk wounding it and have it come back furious at him, he explained.

Continued:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/polar-bear-shot-dead-after-newfoundland-home-break-in/article2385794/

Viking Explorers Carried Fuzzy Stowaways, New Study Finds

Between the eighth and 10th centuries, Vikings were exploring and spreading into Greenland, Iceland and Newfoundland. Now, a new study finds that these notoriously fierce people brought with them some fluffy stowaways: house mice.

Vikings appear to have brought the house mice with them when they arrived in Iceland and Greenland, according to a genetic analysis of the tiny rodents. The descendents of these Viking mice can still be found today in Iceland, though the Greenland mice died out and were replaced by their Danish cousins.

"Human settlement history over the last 1,000 years is reflected in the genetic sequence of mouse mitochondrial DNA," said study researcher Eleanor Jones of the University of York and Uppsala University in a statement, referring to DNA found in mitochondria, or the energy-producing centers of cells. "We can match the pattern of human populations to that of the house mice."

Like many explorers, Vikings brought along livestock on their expeditions. On such journeys, uninvited tagalongs are inevitable. Jones and her colleagues conducted genetic testing on modern mice in Iceland, Greenland and northwest Newfoundland where Vikings are known to have explored. They also tested old mouse bones found at archaeological sites in Greenland and Iceland.

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/19146-viking-explorers-mice-stowaways.html

Dead porcupine found in western Newfoundland (via Chad Arment)

A very dead porcupine — an animal not native to Newfoundland — has been found on the Island's west coast.

A wildlife official said the animal was found by the side of a road in the Codroy Valley area.
"It's in very rough shape. It's very flat. It looks like it was run over at some point. It's pretty mangled. We're not even sure if it was male or female," said Shelley Moores.

Moores, a senior manager with the wildlife division of the province's department of environment and conservation, said wildlife officials believe it's the first sighting of a porcupine on the island of Newfoundland. However, it's not clear if the animal was ever actually alive when arrived on the island.

Porcupines are native to other parts of Atlantic Canada and Labrador. Other animals that are not native to Newfoundland, such as raccoons, are believed to have hitched a ride to the island on trucks coming by ferry to western Newfoundland.

But hitched a ride may not be the right way of describing how the animal's body arrived there. It's possible the porcupine's carcass was stuck to a vehicle that travelled from another part of the country, according to Moores.

"It was on the side of the road for at least a day, but it looks to us that it has been dead longer. It's starting to decompose. There's a good chance that it was dead when it got here," she said.

The porcupine was found by Eric Leukert who saw the carcass by the side of the road, took photgraphs, and called wildlife officials.

It's unknown what impact the species might have on the environment if it flourished in Newfoundland. Despite that, Moores said wildlife officials discourage anyone from introducing non-native species to the province.

Moores said wildlife officials would like to hear from anyone who believes they have any information about the hapless porcupine. In the meantime, they are doing what they can with the information they have.

"The only thing we can measure is the size of a paw and we are still looking into the literature to see if we can determine anything from that," said Moores.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2011/10/20/nl-porcupine-newfoundland-120.html