Born of the Ice

A harp seal pup, likely just one to two weeks old, rested on the ice. Not far away lay the partially snow-covered remains of an adult seal. Over the course of three days, the pup remained in roughly the same spot, and no mother returned to nurse it. I couldn’t help but wonder if the nearby carcass was that of its mother and now facing a tragic and certain fate? Or was this simply the abrupt reality of natural weaning and its mother had left, the pup now on the brink of its solitary journey to the sea left to learn to hunt and feed itself? Either way, the beauty of the environment and the moment served as a powerful reminder of the inevitable challenges and risks of being “Born of the Ice.”