Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.livescience.com/animals...inhabited-siberian-island-under-investigation
Mystery mass death of seals on remote, uninhabited Siberian island under investigation
By Jacklin Kwan
published 34 minutes ago
Carcasses of seals, sea lions and birds were found on Tyuleniy Island in the Sea of Okhotsk by environmental groups who were there to clear up plastic pollution.
More than 300 northern fur seals and Steller sea lions have been found dead in a mystery mass die-off on a small, uninhabited island in Siberia.
Tyuleniy Island, also known as the 'Island of the Seals,' is located in the Sea of Okhotsk and is an important breeding ground for northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus).
Photos taken by conservationists from the Friends of the Ocean wildlife relief group and the environmental education organization Club Boomerang show carcasses strewn across the coast. Most of the dead animals were seals. Dead birds were also found.
In a translated Telegram post, a local subsidiary of the state-run broadcaster GTRK said that the cause of the die-off was unclear, with poisons, toxins and viral infections all possibilities.
Maria Chistaeva, the chief veterinarian of the Primorsky Aquarium who was on the island at the time, told GTRK that avian flu "cannot be ruled out" as a possible culprit...
Mystery mass death of seals on remote, uninhabited Siberian island under investigation
By Jacklin Kwan
published 34 minutes ago
Carcasses of seals, sea lions and birds were found on Tyuleniy Island in the Sea of Okhotsk by environmental groups who were there to clear up plastic pollution.
More than 300 northern fur seals and Steller sea lions have been found dead in a mystery mass die-off on a small, uninhabited island in Siberia.
Tyuleniy Island, also known as the 'Island of the Seals,' is located in the Sea of Okhotsk and is an important breeding ground for northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus).
Photos taken by conservationists from the Friends of the Ocean wildlife relief group and the environmental education organization Club Boomerang show carcasses strewn across the coast. Most of the dead animals were seals. Dead birds were also found.
In a translated Telegram post, a local subsidiary of the state-run broadcaster GTRK said that the cause of the die-off was unclear, with poisons, toxins and viral infections all possibilities.
Maria Chistaeva, the chief veterinarian of the Primorsky Aquarium who was on the island at the time, told GTRK that avian flu "cannot be ruled out" as a possible culprit...