HARP SEAL

also called Saddleback (Pagophilus groenlandicus, sometimes Phoca groenlandica), migratory northern seal of the family Phocidae, found in the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans. The adult male is light grayish or yellowish with brown or black on the head and a similarly coloured U-shaped marking on the back and sides. The female is not as clearly marked, and the young seal (known as bedlamer, beater, or grayback depending on its age) is gray with black spots. As an adult the harp seal attains a length and weight of about 1.8 m (6 feet) and 180 kg (400 pounds). Harp seals are strong swimmers; they feed on fish and crustaceans and spend much of the year at sea. They migrate in late winter to breeding grounds located near Newfoundland and in the Greenland and White seas. The pups (usually one, sometimes twins) are born on the pack ice and, until they are about two weeks old, bear fluffy white coats that are highly valued by the fur trade. Harp seals have been hunted for many yearsfor about two centuries near Newfoundland. In the 1960s public indignation at the sealers' method of clubbing to death (and in some instances reportedly skinning alive) tens of thousands of newborn pups led to increased regulation and supervision of sealing activities in the Newfoundland area, particularly with regard to humane killing and strict enforcement of annual quotas. Widespread public disapproval of the slaughter of pups continued, however, rallied by the efforts of protective organizations to publicize the annual kill.