Pace Courtney N, Haulena Martin, Drumm Hannah E, Akhurst Lindsaye, Raverty Stephen A
Vancouver Aquarium, 845 Avison Way, Vancouver, British Columbia V6G 3E2, Canada.
Animal Health Center British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture, 1767 Angus Campbell Rd., Abbotsford, British Columbia V3G 2M3, Canada.
J Wildl Dis. 2023 Oct 1;59(4):629-639. doi: 10.7589/JWD-D-22-00172.
A retrospective study was conducted to categorize and describe the causes of mortality in harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) along the British Columbia coast that presented to the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre (MMR) for rehabilitation from 2012 to 2020. Medical records for 1,279 predominantly perinatal live-stranded harbor seals recovered in this region were reviewed. Approximately 20.0% (256 individuals; 137 males, 118 females, 1 unknown) of these animals died while at MMR. Infectious disease was the most common cause of death, accounting for 60.5% of mortality across all age classes. This was followed by nonanthropogenic trauma (7.1%), metabolic illness (5.4%), nutritional deficiency (5.0%), parasitic illness (5.0%), congenital disorders (2.5%), and human-associated trauma (0.4%). Pups were the most common age class (87.4%) amongst mortalities and predominantly died of an infectious process (62.5%). Phocid herpesvirus-1 infection was identified in 18.9% of the mortalities, with the highest prevalence occurring in 2019 (30.8%). Fungal disease was detected in six seals: three cases of pulmonary mycosis due to Cryptococcus gattii and three cases consistent with mucormycosis. In six cases, mortality was attributed to congenital disorders. Two of these cases involved axial skeletal malformities that are not currently described in the literature. This is the first study to describe the causes of mortality in harbor seals undergoing rehabilitation in British Columbia.
进行了一项回顾性研究，对2012年至2020年期间被送到温哥华水族馆海洋哺乳动物救援中心（MMR）进行康复治疗的不列颠哥伦比亚省海岸斑海豹（Phoca vitulina）的死亡原因进行分类和描述。回顾了该地区回收的1279只主要为围产期活体搁浅斑海豹的医疗记录。这些动物中约20.0%（256只个体；137只雄性，118只雌性，1只性别未知）在MMR期间死亡。传染病是最常见的死亡原因，占所有年龄组死亡率的60.5%。其次是非人为创伤（7.1%）、代谢性疾病（5.4%）、营养缺乏（5.0%）、寄生虫病（5.0%）、先天性疾病（2.5%）和与人类相关的创伤（0.4%）。幼崽是死亡个体中最常见的年龄组（87.4%），主要死于感染过程（62.5%）。在18.9%的死亡个体中检测到海豹疱疹病毒-1感染，2019年的患病率最高（30.8%）。在6只海豹中检测到真菌病：3例由加氏隐球菌引起的肺部真菌病和3例符合毛霉菌病的病例。在6例中，死亡归因于先天性疾病。其中2例涉及目前文献中未描述的轴向骨骼畸形。这是第一项描述不列颠哥伦比亚省接受康复治疗的斑海豹死亡原因的研究。
