Rare hooded seal from the Arctic spotted in Ostend

A young hooded seal, a seal species that mainly lives in the Arctic, has been spotted on the beach in Ostend. It’s only the fifth time that a hooded seal has been spotted on the Belgian coast. According to experts, its arrival is yet another warning that climate change is affecting the Arctic.

Last Thursday, a walker on the beach in Ostend took a photo of a seal, which he posted on social media the following day. It turned out to be a young hooded seal, a seal species from the Arctic region. “The hooded seal mainly lives around Greenland and in northern Canada,” Jan Haelters from the Institute of Natural Sciences explained to VRT NWS. “So the animal was very far from home.”

This is only the fifth sighting of this species in Belgium. The last sighting dates back to 2003.

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According to Haelters, it cannot be fully proven that the animal fled because its habitat is under pressure from climate change. “Nevertheless, we can see it, together with the narwhal and the bowhead whale, which washed ashore before, as an ambassador from the Far North, coming to tell us that its habitat is under threat,” he said.

The animal spotted in Ostend looked healthy in the photos, but to be sure, a veterinarian would have to examine it. In the meantime, however, the hooded seal has already left and it is unclear where the animal has gone.

 

#FlandersNewsService | Hooded seal in Canada © PHOTO IMAGEBROKER


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