Avian influenza is killing tens of thousands of seals and sea lions in different corners of the world, disrupting ecosystems and flummoxing scientists who don’t see a clear way to slow the devastating virus.
FILE - A gray seal swims in Casco Bay, off Portland, Maine, in this Sept. 15, 2020 file photo. Seal die-offs from the bird flu have been detected everywhere from New England to Chile. Dead elephant seals line the beach at Punta Delgada, Chubut, Argentina, on Oct. 10, 2023. Bird flu has killed tens of thousands of seals and sea lions around the world and scientists aren’t sure how to stop it. Dead elephant seals line the beach at Punta Delgada, Chubut, Argentina, on Oct. 10, 2023.
“The loss of wildlife at the current scale presents an unprecedented risk of wildlife population collapse, creating an ecological crisis,” the World Organisation for Animal Health, an intergovernmental organization, said in a statement.330 harbor and gray seals along the North Atlantic coast in 2022 turned out to be worse than initially thought.
Some scientists and environmental advocates say there could be a link between the outbreaks and climate change and warming oceans. Warmer sea temperatures off northern Chile decrease the population of forage fish, and that makes sea lions weaker and more susceptible to disease, said Liesbeth van der Meer, director of the environmental group Oceana in Chile.
Even seals in aquariums are not considered completely safe from bird flu. The New England Aquarium, where outdoor harbor seal exhibits delight thousands of visitors every year, has taken strict sanitation precautions to prevent transmission of the virus to its animals, said Melissa Joblon, the Boston aquarium’s director of animal health.
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