The Nation : Seal Rescue Called Risky

Volunteers headed to a glacier-blocked Alaska inlet to attempt to free 130 trapped seals and porpoises may be needlessly risking their lives because of the possible collapse of the ice dam, some experts said. The Whale Museum of Friday Harbor, Wash., is coordinating the unprecedented effort at Hubbard Glacier, an 80-mile river of ice that begins in Canada and ends at Yakutat Bay near the top of the southeast Alaska panhandle. The glacier pinched off Russell Fjord about three months ago, transforming it into a 34-mile-long lake.