Is it rare for whales and dolphins to get trapped in the ice along Canadas coasts?
Most whales and dolphins do move farther south or away from the coast during the winter, but there have been a few cases of whales getting trapped in the ice along coasts in the northern part of the country in the past few years. Earlier this winter, hundreds of narwhals became trapped in the ice near Pond Inlet, Nunavut. The whales were killed on the advice of local elders, who said it would spare them from further suffering and death by drowning as the ice thickened. A number of other examples have made the news in recent years. In May 2008, 15 to 20 beluga whales were trapped in the sea near Grise Fiord, Nunavut. In November 2006, 100 to 200 beluga whales became trapped in the Husky Lakes, a string of saltwater lakes and inlets east of Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., after a channel connecting the lakes to the Beaufort Sea froze. They, too, could not be freed and were instead culled.
