Dead seals found in Sweden as Danish plague spreads
Date: 30-May-02
Country: SWEDEN
Between 10 and 15 seals have been found dead on Sweden's south-western coast in the past two days following an outbreak of seal plague in Denmark where more than 250 have died.
"This is just the beginning. We must prepare ourselves for many more," said Anne Roos, a research associate at the Contamination Research Group at the Swedish Museum of Natural History.
"Yesterday there was a report of one dead seal (in Sweden), by lunchtime today we had 10," she told Reuters.
The seal population in waters around the Danish and Swedish coasts totals approximately 15,000 animals, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature environment protection organisation.
In 1988, the seal plague - caused by a virus called PDV (Phocine Distemper Virus), which erodes the seals' immune system and leads to pneumonia - wiped out more than half of the seal population in Western Europe.
Roos said the disease was highly lethal and that seals contracting it suffered a painful death.
The previous outbreak of seal plague led to a surge in support for Sweden's Green Party.
Riding on a wave of sympathy sparked by extensive TV coverage of dying seals, the Green Party came out of nowhere to win 5.5 percent of the vote and 20 seats in parliament in Sweden's autumn 1988 elections.
Opinion polls show the Greens, who now have 16 MPs, balancing near the four percent in nationwide voter support needed for representation in parliament.
Political analysts say a new seal plague outbreak could help the party stay above the threshold in Sweden's September 15 general election.
