THE REAPPEARANCE of sick and dead seals off Britain's coasts in the past two weeks has raised fears that a recurrence of last year's epidemic could coincide with the imminent pupping season. According to John Harwood at the Natural Environment Research Council's Sea Mammal Research Unit in Cambridge, this would be the 'worst possible outcome'. Many seals, particularly on the Scottish coast, are not immune to the virus because they escaped infection last year.
Just before Easter, four common seals were washed ashore around Blakeney Point in Norfolk; three were dead and one sick. A sick young grey seal also appeared on the coast of the Isle of Man, where it later died.
Researchers cannot confirm that the animals had the same morbillivirus, now known as phocine distemper, that killed 17 000 common seals around Britain and Europe last year. However, said Harwood, the symptoms were 'sickeningly familiar'.
The unit's ...
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