Global Warming loses hunters 1,000's of Animals to hunt

[JoseCuervo]

Global Warming adversely affecting hunting opportunities...... let's hear the "Flat Earth Society" members deny it is a concern.....

Walruses Die; Global Warming Blamed
By DAN JOLING – 1 day ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — In what some scientists see as another alarming consequence of global warming, thousands of Pacific walruses above the Arctic Circle were killed in stampedes earlier this year after the disappearance of sea ice caused them to crowd onto the shoreline in extraordinary numbers.

The deaths took place during the late summer and fall on the Russian side of the Bering Strait, which separates Alaska from Russia.

"It was a pretty sobering year — tough on walruses," said Joel Garlach-Miller, a walrus expert for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Unlike seals, walruses cannot swim indefinitely. The giant, tusked mammals typically clamber onto the sea ice to rest, or haul themselves onto land for just a few weeks at a time.

But ice disappeared in the Chukchi Sea this year because of warm summer weather, ocean currents and persistent eastern winds, Garlach-Miller said.

As a result, walruses came ashore earlier and stayed longer, congregating in extremely high numbers, with herds as big as 40,000 at Point Shmidt, a spot that had not been used by walruses as a "haulout" for a century, scientists said.

Walruses are vulnerable to stampedes when they gather in such large numbers. The appearance of a polar bear, a hunter or a low-flying airplane can send them rushing to the water.

Sure enough, scientists received reports of hundreds and hundreds of walruses dead of internal injuries suffered in stampedes. Many of the youngest and weakest animals, mostly calves born in the spring, were crushed.

Biologist Anatoly Kochnev of Russia's Pacific Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography estimated 3,000 to 4,000 walruses out of population of perhaps 200,000 died, or two or three times the usual number on shoreline haulouts.

He said the animals only started appearing on shore for extended periods in the late 1990s, after the sea ice receded.

"The reason is the global warming," Kochnev said.

The reports match predictions of what might happen to walruses if the ice receded, said wildlife biologist Tony Fischbach of the U.S. Geological Survey.

"We were surprised that this was happening so soon, and we were surprised at the magnitude of the report," he said.

Scientists said the death of so many walruses — particularly calves — is alarming in itself. But if the trend continues, and walruses no longer have summer sea ice from which to dive for clams and snails, they could strip coastal areas of food, and that could reduce their numbers even further.

No large-scale walrus die-offs were seen in Alaska during the same period, apparently because the animals congregated in smaller groups on the American side of the Bering Strait, with the biggest known herd at about 2,500

 

[ringer]

Damn! I was all ready and excited about next years walrus hunt.

 

[A-con]

Jose, in my "non-resident" tag price thread, a lot of people including yourself seem to think "I can afford it, so it's OK.
Well guess what, I don't plan on hunting walrus, so it's OK.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Jose, in my "non-resident" tag price thread, a lot of people including yourself seem to think "I can afford it, so it's OK.
Well guess what, I don't plan on hunting walrus, so it's OK.

You would advocate managment of only game species you plan on killing? That will end hunting quicker than any bunch of NRA goons spreading paranoid messages at election time...

 

[A-con]

So you’re saying if it bothers you, it should bother everybody, but if it's Ok with you........................

Fact is Jose you basic premise in THIS thread has so many questionable assumptions it would be difficult to reply to.
All game animal population should be managed for sustainable harvest, with some minor exceptions.

 

[JoseCuervo]

So you’re saying if it bothers you, it should bother everybody, but if it's Ok with you........................

Good, we have agreement.


What does sustainable harvest mean? The maximum sustainable harvest or a minimal subsistence sustainable harvest or an idigenous people?

 

[A-con]

Jose, you’re a tool.
Before we move on to other questions, we should go back and acknowledge that my first post wins the point hands down, and illustrates how sloppy your opinion is.

 

[TLC]

c'mon now guys, it proves that american walruses are smarter than russian walruses. enuf said.

and hope to get an answer here. jose, why is it so important to you for everyone to believe there is a global warming problem?

 

[ringer]

Get rid of walrus then sea lions then Japanese and salmon fishing will be fantastic.

 

[IDHunters]

"Global Warming loses hunters 1,000's of Animals to hunt "

As noted above, there goes the great Walrus hunt of 2007.

"Biologist Anatoly Kochnev of Russia's Pacific Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography estimated 3,000 to 4,000 walruses out of population of perhaps 200,000 died, or two or three times the usual number on shoreline haulouts"

1.5 to 2% of the population dead? That's way less than the % of the elk population that wolves kill and that only makes the hunting better, right?

 

[FLIPPER]

 

[noharleyyet]

Classic Flipper....LAMO...thank you.