Nova Scotia; 400 dead grey seals

[treesparrow]

http://www.capebretonpost.com/News/Local/2012-03-04/article-2915303/Dead-seals-no-reason-for-alarm-says-Department-of-Fisheries-and-Oceans/1

 

[Voyageur]

http://www.capebretonpost.com/News/Local/2012-03-04/article-2915303/Dead-seals-no-reason-for-alarm-says-Department-of-Fisheries-and-Oceans/1

A little, at a glance, details from this:

Federal fisheries department seal biologist Mike Hammill said the mammals showed no sign of physical trauma other than the wounds inflicted by predators after death.

What is physically known in brief:

They weren’t killed by people
The majority of them are weaned pups and they look in fairly good shape
They’re fat, didn’t seem to have any external markings on them.

Virus is a possible explanation, yet they seemed in good health. If there were 400 then there is likely many more not tallied on beaches.

it could be weeks before a possible cause of death is identified.

We should keep our eyes out but there’s no concern for anything. For the moment it’s just something that’s limited to this colony and it may not be a big deal at least at this stage.

Would have reservation about the comment of it being “not a big deal”.

 

[treesparrow]

From the roughly same part of Canada (about 150 miles distant from the first incident judging from google map) more mass deaths of grey seals.

Dozens of dead seals found on P.E.I. beach

DFO investigating the unusual find

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is investigating after dozens of dead seals were found on a beach and in the waters off Prince Edward Island.

A group of students from the Charlottetown-based Atlantic Veterinary College found as many as 50 dead seals over the weekend.

The students came upon the bloody carcasses of grey seals either dead or dying. Many of seals were pups.

DFO officers responded to the beach on Black Brook Road near Murray Harbour in the eastern part of the Island.

Fisheries officers have sent samples of the dead animals to Dr. Pierre-Yves Daoust, a wildlife pathologist at the veterinary college, who will perform the necropsies.

Daoust said the cause of death has not been determined.

Steve Hachey, communications adviser with DFO, said an investigation will determine whether the seals died of natural causes or were killed.

Hachey said charges could be laid under the Fisheries Act if test results confirm the seals were killed.

Video -

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2013/01/28/pei-dead-seals-investigation-584.html