Need some of this, but with that population concentration it will probably come by itself.
The first transmission of a seal-killing virus that started in the Atlantic Ocean has been documented in a population of Pacific sea otters in Alaska. The transmission of the disease from the Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Sea is the first sign that melting Arctic ice not only affects the habitat of Arctic animals, like polar bears and seals, but also makes it easier for pathogens to travel into the area and into the Arctic wildlife.
The details of the finding appear in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, which is published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The pathogen –phocine distemper virus (PDV) - killed 30,000 harbor seals in a single outbreak in Northern Europe in 2002. The virus has also affected seal population in Canada’s Atlantic coast. The passing of the virus, which moved between seal species, took place across Arctic Eurasia or Northern Canada before it was passed on to otters living in the Alaskan Kachemak Bay.
http://arcticfocus.com/2009/06/22/se...arctic-otters/
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