Mystery as ‘corkscrew’ kills Scottish seals

Daily Mail, By MAIL ON SUNDAY REPORTER, 15th August 2010

Dozens of seals are dying from unexplained ‘corkscrew’ injuries, prompting the launch of a Scottish Government investigation.

Seven incidents involving common and grey seals, such as the one pictured below, were reported in the past two months alone in St Andrews Bay and the Firth of Forth, Scottish officials said.

Carcasses washed ashore showing a single, smooth-edged cut starting at the head and spiralling around the body. Experts do not believe the injuries were caused by fishing nets or boat propellers.

'Strange deaths': Seven incidents involving common and grey seals were reported in Scotland in the last two months

Environment Minister Richard Lochhead said: ‘It’s critical that we establish the cause of these strange deaths and do all we can to protect our seal populations, particularly as numbers have reduced in recent years. I would encourage anyone who encounters a seal carcass to contact the Sea Mammal Research Unit.’

In total, 33 seals have washed up along the east coast of England and Scotland, including six in St Andrews Bay and the Firth of Forth in 2008 and 2009.

Similar incidents have been reported in Norfolk and off the Canadian coast.

Mr Lochhead has asked scientists from the University of St Andrews to investigate.

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Is ocean life being wiped out?

Missing San Francisco sea lions 'off Oregon'

BBC News

Just a year ago Pier 39 was home to hundreds of sea lions

Scientists in the US believe they may have solved the riddle of San Francisco's vanishing sea lions.

The Californian city's famous colony of sea lions all but disappeared over the past month, baffling experts.

But now large numbers of the animals have been spotted further north, off the coast of Oregon.

Scientists say the animals have probably migrated in search of food during the winter, although in unusually high numbers.

The sea lions of San Francisco are almost as famous as the city's cable cars or even the Golden Gate bridge, says the BBC's Peter Bowes in Los Angeles.

Twenty years ago, for no apparent reason, the smelly, noisy animals took up residence in the docks at Pier 39.

Their numbers grew rapidly to about 1,700 animals, and they became a popular tourist attraction.

But then most of them disappeared.

Initially, marine experts were baffled.

One outlandish suggestion was that they were fleeing the bay because of an imminent earthquake, our correspondent says.

But now the sighting of large numbers of sea lions off the coast of Oregon may have solved the mystery.

Scientists says it is normal for the animals to move north in search of food during the winter but it is extremely unusual for them to migrate in such huge numbers.

(Photo: Peter Arnold - Dec 2009)