Strange seal behavior

Nov. 24 - Tara Bortoluzzi met two hunters from Chesterfield Inlet and Whale Cove in the Iqaluit airport on Monday that were also very concerned with the 'behavior' of ringed seals near their communities this fall. I'm following up with them and several other HTOs. They reported that they are catching more adult seals this year which are really large, and very few pups. The seals are also very easy to catch, in many cases they said 'too easy'. One hunter caught 30 seals in one day trip. The seals are also coming inland and hanging around the shoreline for extended periods of time. Of course, it's great for hunting, but they were really concerned as this is very unusual. Speaking with Ole, it seems Distemper might be one possible reason for the strange behavior. Ole Nielsen