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Walruses suffer from similar disease afflicting Alaska ringed sealsArctic ringed seals aren't the only marine mammal suffering an unusual skin-lesion outbreak along Alaska's northern coasts. Walruses that have hauled out by the thousands at Point Lay in Northwest Alaska during recent summers -- an event driven by climate change -- are also turning up with bizarre, festering sores. Scientists estimate perhaps 600 are infected. Instead of wounds on their faces and rear flippers, red abscesses pepper the animals' entire bodies. But apparently only a few have perished. Still, scientists from a number of agencies are working to answer several questions, including whether the outbreaks in the two species are related. They also worry the lesions could eventually lead to deaths among Pacific walrus, an animal more than 100,000 strong that's being considered for protections under the Endangered Species Act. "Is it the bubonic plague or just a really bad case of acne?" asked Tony Fischbach, a federal walrus biologist who first noticed the sores on some walruses late this summer. As in the case of the ringed seals, biologists are working with the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management, pathology experts and others. They've sent skin and tissue samples to labs in the U.S. and Canada, but haven't pinpointed a cause. Everything from viruses to toxins are being considered. It doesn't appear that a huge numbers of walruses have the lesions. At various times, an estimated 20,000 walruses have gathered on the beach. Leo Ferreira III, the former mayor in Point Lay, a village of 200 residents west of Barrow, said the sores seem to have contributed to the deaths of some walruses. "Most of them that are dying got the lesions on them," said Ferreira, an Inupiat walrus hunter. He provided a little help last month as scientists collected flesh samples from the animals for testing. He's seen two dead ones with lesions. "This is the first time this is happening," he said. "But this is also happening with the ringed seals. We're very concerned. It's because we think there is a disease spreading through them." Sprawling walrus herds began hauling out on the beach near the village in 2007, for the first time in memory, as temperatures warmed. Walrus experts say it's because climate change has melted the sea ice the animals normally use as a diving platform for bottom foraging. Fischbach said biologists this summer witnessed new behavior among the walruses at Point Lay. Previously, they did their diving for clams and mud-dwelling worms near the beach. But that's not a rich feeding ground. So many walruses used the Point Lay beaches as their base camp. They made long trips to feed at a site about 100 miles off the coast of Wainwright, a village northeast of Point Lay. With the ice gone, the walruses had no place to rest, Fischbach said. Some would swim for two weeks before they returned to the beach, where they'd rest a few days before leaving on another long trip. Fischbach first spotted a sick walrus in late August. He was there for an unrelated radio-tagging effort. On the edge of a huge herd of animals, he crawled across the beach, trying to stay low and out of sight. One day he came across an abandoned calf that barely moved and appeared to be dying. He first thought sea gulls had picked at it, but he later saw other walruses with similar sores. "This little guy had lesions all over him," Fischbach said. "That caused me concern because it was near death." Almost every walrus that swam onto the beach, especially single female adults, approached the calf. Some tried nudging it toward the herd, without results. "They seemed to be very interested in it, but they moved on after a while," Fischbach said. Fischbach saw other walruses with the lesions, but they appeared to be healthy despite the open wounds across their body. The sores weren't from jousting with tusks, something walruses are famous for when gathered in herds.
Had I had support in the late 70's addressing the ongoing pollution along the Asiatic current where would we stand in addressing it now? Accordingto the NOAA Fact sheet http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/newsreleases/2011/Pinniped_FactSheet2011.pdf Since it is now coming out that this or a similar problem is occurring widely throughout the Circumpolar ecosystems, and that it has been noticed for several years, we therefore have at least 'fair' reason to be hopeful that it is not a harbinger of devastation. Instead of the Bubonic Plague or the Black Death, the fact that the symptoms have been seen for awhile now, and only a tiny fraction of the populations is dying (or even displaying distress in the clear presence of the condition), we have reason to hope this is more like the Common Flu, or Herpes. Keeping fingers crossed, knock on wood! I've only just read this after leaving a similar comment at the story covering the disease among the ringed seal ("nachik"). One of the major concerns in animal disease is the ability of a pathogen to "jump" species. Like the seal, the walrus is a pinniped. They and bears shared a common ancestor only about 23 million years ago, so there should be legitimate concerns that the disease could have major consequences in arctic ecology or even in aubarctic or temperate regions. I wonder if bearded seals are affected as well? The affected seals that are observed hauling out in populated coastal areas probably represent just a small fraction of the total amount of seals that are ill. I wonder if any biologist has tried to take sick seals into a controlled environment to see if any of these ill animals have recovered spontaneously, or if tney have been tracked with devices that would give any indication of the mortality rate of those who have been observed to be affected to a greater or lesser extent. Taking them from their natural environment to a domesticated one would unfortunately incease stresses upon the animal so disease processes might not replicate those found in the wild. Epidemiology is not always able to ascertain the causes of disease, nor its methods of contagion. It took almost ten years before the CDC had a good grip on the source, methods of transmission and the character of HIV. The nachik are an integral and substantial part of the ecology of the Arctic and their oil has provided a traditional food source for the Inupiat, the Inuit and Greenlandic peoples. I assume that is the case in Siberia as well. The walrus are less a part of Eskimo diet. I hope sufficient resources are being devoted to the exploration of this phenomonon. I suspect intervention in containing the spread of the disease might be impossible. |
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