Seals have suffered serious infections of the heart and lungs. Veterinarians do not yet know the cause.
At least 60 ice seals have been found dead across northern and western Alaska this month. As of early this week, reports of dead seals had come in from the Norton Sound region, the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope.
This comes just days after other reports of about 60 dead ice seals found from Kotlik to Kotzebue and Kivalina to Point Hope.
The federal agency tasked to manage ice seals this week declared an Unusual Mortality Event, UME for short, for bearded, ringed and spotted seals in the Bering and Chukchi seas.
Observations From Members 