An outbreak of distemper has killed 41 seal pups on a Danish island and scientists fear that thousands of animals could die if the disease spreads, the Danish Forest and Nature Agency said on Monday

COPENHAGEN, Denmark; June 28, 2007.- Agency officials have found the dead seal pups on Anholt, an island between Denmark and Sweden that hosts many of the 12,000 seals that live in the waters between the two countries.

“We are dealing with it as a severe outbreak but we don’t know yet the full extent of it,” said Henrik Lykke Sorensen, an agency official. “Until now we only found young seals born last year. We hope adults or at least those older than 5 years have an immune defence against the virus.”

He added that the agency was conducting more tests.

A 1988 distemper outbreak killed 60 percent of Danish seals, while 30 percent of the animals died in an outbreak in 2002, Sorensen said.

(Reuters)

 

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