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Harbor seals and gray seals die in the hundreds from southern Maine to northern Massachusetts, apparently as a result of a combination of measles-like and flu-like illnesses.
At the end of last month, the federal government said that the summer seal toll was an "unusual mortality event," meaning that federal resources would be provided to help understand and manage deaths.
The teams responded to more than 600 reported cases of gray seals and dead or dying seals, but there are likely others that are not reported or stranded on private property, said Mike Asaro, chief of the service of marine mammals and sea turtles. and atmospheric administration (NOAA). "The total could reach 1,000 at this point. We just do not know, "he said.
Marine mammal stranders are still waiting to find sick and dead animals at this time of year, as a percentage of newborns fail to develop after weaning. But the carcasses on New England's beaches reveal an epidemic that affects all ages, says Katie Pugliares-Bonner, senior biologist and necropsy coordinator at the New England Aquarium in Boston.
"It's something that was a big concern – not just the volume, but the variety of age classes," she said.
Although research is still ongoing, the outbreak appears to be centered on the Shoals, a small group of islands off the coast of southern Maine and northern New Hampshire, said Pugliares-Bonner .
Tracey Goldstein, a professor at the University of California at Davis, and a member of the NOAA's unusual mortality task force, says the animals suffer from the phocine disease virus.
Phocine's disease causes infections and lung attacks when it attacks the brain's seal tissues. Some animals have failed on beaches still alive, but lethargic and coughing, she said.
Some seals have also been found to carry the flu, although it is unclear whether compound infections kill them or if the disease reduces the animals' immunity and makes them vulnerable to the flu, Goldstein said. Birds are the main source of the flu and seals in the area have already caught the flu from birds of passage. But the researchers have not confirmed the origin this time.
Infections are more likely to spread at this time of year when seals live in close quarters while feeding their babies on the beaches, she added.
Both infections have already been detected in seals on the East Coast, said Goldstein, but not at the same time.
In 2011-2012, an influenza epidemic killed approximately 780 seals from Maine to Massachusetts, and in 2006-2007, approximately 1,500 Maine seals in Virginia died of Phocine's disease, according to data from previous mortality reports. .
At this point, scientists say that they are not too concerned about the risk that viruses will spread to other animals. But people have to stay away from wounded carcasses and animals, and keep their dogs as well, "said Lynda Doughty, executive director of Marine Mammals of Maine, who treats the strandings in southern Maine.
It is theoretically possible, but unlikely that viruses will jump species, noted Goldstein, and dogs are known to give seal disease, although the opposite has not been observed.
"It's hard to see people interfering with animals that are not doing well," said Doughty, whose team has responded to more than 400 stranded animals in the past month, including 30 on September 2nd. "These are the ones who show up on the populated beaches for which you feel bad. The stress of having people around is not really helpful. "
Although his Massachusetts stranding team has seen fewer dying and dead animals this week, Pugliares-Bonner said September is usually the busiest month.
"I do not think we're still aware of it," she said. "I'm afraid we're on a small plateau and we can see another peak – but that's hard to say."
The harbor seal and the gray seal have performed well in recent years and none of the species are endangered, Goldstein said.
"It's really sad when you see a lot of people affected and dying, but in the long run, the population should recover," she said.
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