Are Seals Endangered?

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Harbor+seal+on+ice%2C+Prince+William+Sound%2C+Alaska+by+AlaskaNPS+is+licensed+under+CC+BY+2.0

“Harbor seal on ice, Prince William Sound, Alaska” by AlaskaNPS is licensed under CC BY 2.0

By: Abigail Romero, Reporter

Yes, there are many species that are in risk of being extinct or, in other words, endangered, and seals are one. Seals are endangered because of many things, like, poaching, hunting, pollution, and many other factors.

What species of seals are endangered?

There are thirty three species of seals and 3 are endangered and 14 don’t have enough data to determine it, including The Saimaa Ring Seal, Lacs des Loups Marins Larbor Seal, Mediterranean monk seal, Hawaiian Monk Seal, Bearded Seal, Harbor Seal, Caribbean Monk Seal, Harp Seal, Spotted Seal, Caspian Seal, Arctic Ringed Seal, Northern Elephant Seal, Guadalupe Fur Seal, Ladoga Seal,  New Zealand Fur Seal, South American Fur Seal, and the Galapagos Fur Seal.

What caused seals to be endangered?

Seals are endangered because of habitat loss caused by climate change, pollution, hunting, and poaching

Climate Change is causing the ice in the arctic to melt. Seals live on the ice and in the water, if the ice melts there is no where for them to eat, sleep, or grow up.

Pollution is harmful materials that are in an environment that do not belong there. Pollution is plastic waterbottles, plastic bags, trash, and oil or runoff from factories. The pollution is sometimes eaten by the seals and cause suffocation, starvation, and drowning.

Many seals, especially seals younger than three months, are being hunted for their fur or for fun (see video at top). Poaching is illegally hunting animals, it is illegal to kill white coats, which are seals younger than three weeks, but 98% of seals killed are white coats.

“Sleeping Hawaiian Monk Seal” by Jared Wong is licensed under CC BY 2.0

What can I do to help?

You can symbolically adopt an endangered animal at World Wildlife Fund, buy merchandise from the WWF at their gift store, reduce, reuse, and recycle, grow native plants, volunteer to clean up at https://cleanup.earthday.org/, educate friends and family members push them to help, support local and green businesses, donate to organizations (list – treehugger.com), and support national parks. These are just some of the many things you can do to protect the Earth and other endangered species

 

RELATED ARTICLES:

https://www.worldwildlife.org/initiatives/protecting-species

https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/species-of-concern/hawaiian-monk-seal/

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/ringed-seal

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/hawaiian-monk-seal

https://www.seals-world.com/seals-endangered/

https://bestlifeonline.com/how-to-help-endangered-species/

https://www.endangered.org/10-easy-things-you-can-do-to-save-endangered-species/