"The total number of New Zealand sea lion pups that have died on the subantarctic Auckland Islands appears to have peaked, the Department of Conservation says. DOC-contracted vet Nick Gales reported that there had only been a slight increase in pup deaths - still at about 48 percent total mortality of this year's pup production. The main cause of death was now starvation, not the mystery disease.
DOC marine mammal expert Mike Donoghue said the cause of the mystery deaths was still unknown. "We hope to hear by next week whether virologists in the Netherlands have managed to isolate a virus from the samples that were sent last Friday. If no traces of a virus are found, the search for a causative agent will then be narrowed down to bacteria and or a biotoxins.' " --Elayne Ravji <boss@clear.net.nz> VIA ProMED-mail <promed@usa.healthnet.org>