In the past few weeks more than 360 seals have been found dead in the Danish Kattegat, the same area where a mass mortality of seals started in April 1988. Half of the seals were still pups. Most of the carcasses were found at the isle of Anholt, others on Laesų, Hesselų and the north coast of Sealand. Within the last days, dead seals have been found increasingly on the east coast of Jutland, north of the Limfjord.

The Danish and Dutch Veterinarian investigations confirmed that the cause of mortality is the phocine distemper virus (pdv), the same virus which caused in 1988 the death of more than 50 % of the whole Waddensea population of the seals. In the past, only domestic animals were affected by the virus. The Phocine distemper virus (PDV) spreads rapidly through harbour seal populations, attacking the immune system. Once the animals are infected, pneumonia is the most common cause of death after infection Several of the found dead seals suffered also from bronchopneumonia, parasites and bacteria.

For more information please visit the website of the Agreement on the Conservation of the seals in the Wadden Sea