Canadian Gov Guts Seal, Eats Raw Heart

Lunch gesture protests EU's ban on import of seal products

(NEWSER) - Miffed by a ban on Canadian seal imports by the EU, which charges cruelty in the annual hunt, the country's MPs have defiantly put seal meat on tomorrow's parliamentary lunch menu. By eating seal, a Liberal MP tells the Guardian , “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.” More»

(NEWSER) - Canada has a message for Europe: Keep your mitts off our Arctic. The government has begun a multi-pronged strategy that combines tough diplomatic talk with a flurry of cultural events across the continent that stress the nation's long ties to the region, the Globe and Mail reports. Canada knows it will have to deal with Russia and the US on territory; it's most worried about European nations with no logical claim. “Europeans need to learn the Arctic is not terra incognita,” one former diplomat said. More»

Hunters kill 3% of polar bears each year

(NEWSER) - World leaders meet tomorrow in Norway to consider reducing polar bear hunting, reports the Independent. Conservation organizations estimate the polar bear population, particularly hard hit by global warming, will drop two-thirds to the brink of extinction over the next 50 years. Greenland, the US and Russia permit hunting by Inuit natives, and Canada also allows hunting by sportsmen. The hunts claim 700 polar bears annually, 3% of the total population. Critics consider such hunts "unsustainable harvests." More»

Scientists, locals clash over quotas in Canada's frozen north

(NEWSER) - One man’s endangered species is another’s livelihood in the Arctic north, where polar bear hunting is this season’s hot-button issue, the Economist reports. Scientists set a sustainable annual quota to protect dwindling species near the Canada-Greenland border, but some Inuit locals—who distrust outsiders and use the bears for blankets, mukluks and stews—refuse to comply. More»

May cut food shipments to 73M hungry

(NEWSER) - A United Nations food program has issued an extraordinary emergency plea for an extra $500 million in aid, warning that shipments to the world's hungry may be rationed if the money can't be raised over the next month, reports the Financial Times. The World Food Program feeds some 73 million people in 80 countries. More»