Rafts, the group said, could give walrus more time offshore to access a greater amount of food and could reduce drowning deaths among the animals.
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Lara Horstmann-Dehn, a professor of marine biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said it was possible that the animals died due to natural causes, such as a mass trampling event or even infections, as was suspected during a similar incident in August 2011.
United states.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler’s offices presented a reports publish Wednesday which actually stated the market through which the walruses have been found deceased near Cape Lisburne. Heads and tusks were removed from some of the animals. As with elephants, a walrus tusk contains ivory that is in high demand in some illicit circles.
In 2013, for instance, an Alaska man pleaded guilty and got six months in prison violating federal wildlife law for – among other things – his involvement in the sale of migratory birds and his part in purchasing, transporting and selling walrus tusks and other parts for resale. Federal prosecutors said this week they can not comment on the case. The ivory often is carved and made into jewelry. Arctic sea ice hit its summer minimum last week at 1.7 million square miles, down 240,000 square miles from 2014, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
But since 2007, absence of sea ice in summer and fall has forced thousands of walruses to the Point Lay shoreline haulout. Pacific walruses migrate between the Chukchi and the Bering Seas in tandem with the seasonal cycle of melting and expansion of sea ice. In recent years, sea ice has receded north beyond the shallow continental shelf to water that exceeds 2 miles deep, beyond the diving range of an adult walrus.
When the animals are grouped shoulder-to-shoulder in massive herds, they are subject to stampedes if startled by an airplane, hunter or polar bear. And while killing walruses just for their tusks or hides is prohibited, collecting them from already dead animals is allowed, although it must be reported to the FWS.
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An estimated 35,000 Pacific walrus were photographed Sept. 2 near Point Lay in what has become an annual September phenomenon tied to shrinking sea ice attributed to climate warming.
