Pod of Dolphins killed by virus, Australia

June 30, 2011

Lucy Rickard

A pod of dolphins found dead in the Swan River two years ago likely perished from a debilitating virus found in their systems, recent testing has confirmed.

                            A study has revealed a pod of dolphins may have died from a virus.

Six dolphins were found floating in the Swan River in 2009, with scientists from the Swan River Trust baffled as to the cause of their death, due to a wide range of symptoms on each of the mammals.

Trust principal scientist Kerry Trayler said samples were sent to Ireland for testing, and the results this week found the presence of morbillivirus in two of three cases. One test is still pending.

This is the first time the virus has been found in WA marine mammals, and only the second such time in Australia, according to Dr Trayler.

“The presence of morbillivirus could explain why there so much variation in the symptoms that have been observed among the dead dolphins,” Dr Trayler said.

“Some had

ulcerative skin disease, one had encephalitis, and others had succumbed to pneumonia.”

Two of the dolphins were so badly decomposed, they could not be tested for the virus.

While this discovery has closed the case on the death of the dolphins in the Swan River, the virus was ruled out of the deaths of eight dolphins that died in Bunbury around the same time.

Dr Trayler said it was not known how the dolphins contracted the virus, although one possibility was through contact with off-shore cetacean populations,

which has been associated with a number of large scale mortality events of marine animals around the world.

State chief scientist Professor Lyn Beazley said it was reassuring to know that there has been no recurrence of the virus since this spate of deaths two years ago.

“Should this occur again, mechanisms are now in place to test for the virus in an Australian laboratory and thus provide results more quickly in the future,” Prof Beazley said.

watoday.com.au

Fair Use: Educational

We know chemicals and other pollutions weaken animal’s immune systems, making them more acceptable to disease !