TAS:Mystery of deadly seal stampede
By Don Woolford
HOBART, Dec 10 AAP - A stampede appears to have caused the deaths of 65 seal pups innorthern Tasmania.
Scientists investigating the devastating blow to the Australian fur seal colony onTenth Island agreed today that a stampede was the most likely cause of the mass deathsafter discovering that many of the pups had crushed skulls.
While they could only speculate why the protected seals stampeded, they did not ruleout a human cause.
Nature Conservation Branch senior marine biologist Rosemary Gales said the 65 pups,most only a few days old, were washed up on beaches east of the Tamar River mouth.
Dr Gales said the deaths were a devastating blow to the small colony.
Four adult bodies were also found and one live pup was returned to Tenth Island, theonly breeding colony in the area.
Dr Gales said about 20 of the pups had crushed skulls.
She said a huge wave could have washed the pups, which were too young to swim, offthe low-lying island.
But she would not have expected the injuries if that had happened.
Dr Gales said human interference could have caused the stampede.
"It could have been a plane flying too low, a boat too close or gunshots," she said.
"But I can only speculate."
Senior curator in zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, David Pemberton,who's examined some of the bodies, agreed with the stampede theory.
Dr Pemberton said there hadn't been wild weather in the area in recent days.
"It's a unique event," he said.
"I don't know of when so many pups have been killed before. It needs explanation."
AAP dw/jnb/de
KEYWORD: SEALS
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