Deadly seal virus returns

24/06/2007 00:00:00 June 2007. Reports from Denmark of a third outbreak of Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV) have set conservation organisations in the UK on alert, as the disease poses a serious threat to thousands of seals in Europe. Contingency plans that were drawn up at the last outbreak, are being reinstated in case the disease reaches the UK, as it did in 1988 and 2002. Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the Cornwall team of British Divers Marine Life Rescue and the Cornwall Seal Group will be continuing to monitor Cornish seal populations and reporting back to the Institute of Zoology in London, which will be coordinating a response to the virus if it hits the UK. These organisations urge the public to be vigilant and report any dead or apparently ill seals to them.

Jan Loveridge of the Trust’s Marine Strandings Network said, ‘It may take several weeks for the virus to reach the UK and the greatest risk is to common seals. As we usually only have grey seals in Cornwall, our seal population is unlikely to be affected, but grey seals can still catch the virus, although they're unlikely to die from it. So it's vital that we closely monitor our seal population, record any increase in the number of mortalities and report any apparently sick animals. Even if we don't see any disease here, that is important news in itself, as it shows that the virus hasn't spread to the south west.’ How the virus affects the seals
The virus causes pneumonia and damage to the lungs leads to increased buoyancy, making it difficult for the seals to dive. The nervous system is damaged, the seal may go into convulsions and pregnant seals may abort their pups. Other symptoms include listlessness and runny eyes and nose, although this can be misleading as these last signs are common in many healthy seals.
Dave Jarvis, BDMLR Area Coordinator for Cornwall explains, ‘The difficulty is that the main sign is pneumonia, which as we know is a common finding in seals even without PDV around, so we may be looking for a combination of symptoms. The disease is not a risk to humans but it does potentially pose a risk to dogs, so the public are urged to keep dogs away from seals, alive or dead’.

Report affected seals
Dave continued, ‘Between ourselves, Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Marine Strandings Network and the Cornwall Seal Group, we have a large team of volunteers to keep an eye on seals down here. However we do need the public to report to us anything they think is suspicious. Live seals that show any of the symptoms should be reported to BDMLR immediately on 01825 765546. Our volunteers are trained to handle seals, which can be dangerous. We urge the public not to approach seals too closely as they could scare them back into the sea before we have had a chance to assess them’.

Dead seals should be reported immediately to the Trust’s Marine Strandings Network Hotline on 0845 201 2626 so that they can be inspected, recorded and reported to the Institute of Zoology who will be tracking the disease throughout the UK. However, according to veterinary advisors of the BDMLR, the hope is that the virus will be less virulent this time as there will still be immunity in older animals that were alive at the time of the last outbreak in 2002. Also, the initial outbreak is a little later than previously and it's therefore less likely to arrive in the UK during the pupping season and subsequent moult, when many common seals are grouped together.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) is proud of the fact that it is an entirely voluntary organisation (registered charity: 803438). BDMLR was formed by a group of divers in 1988 in response to the deaths of a large number of seals, caused by PDV, in the Wash area of East Anglia. It is now a committed 24 hr rescue service. BDMLR now train over 300 Marine Mammal Medics a year and have 20 whale rescue pontoons located at strategic points throughout the UK waiting to help stranded whales and dolphins. There are over 3000 volunteers nation-wide. For more information please visit www.bdmlr.org.uk.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network (MSN) is the official recorder of stranded marine animals in Cornwall. It has over 100 volunteers throughout the county who are trained to inspect, record and photograph dead marine animals and retrieve animals for post mortem for the institute of Zoology, with whom they work in partnership. Data recorded by the Network is sent to the Natural History Museum for inclusion in the national database. The Network runs a 24hr, year-round Hotline for reporting of dead marine animals. For more information please visit www.cwtstrandings.org.

The Cornwall Seal Group (CSG) is a voluntary group that monitors seal populations around the coast of Cornwall. It gathers data in an attempt to explain the patterns of visits, groupings and behaviours of seals and carries out photo-identification work to identify individual seals. The CSG works closely with the MSN and BDMLR. For more information please visit www.suesseals.eclipse.co.uk/index.htm. To see a copy of the Danish report on the PDV outbreak, please visit http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/23/europe/EU-GEN-Denmark-Seal-Deaths.php