‘They were reporting that these animals had been shot, and their heads had been taken’.
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Two groups of Pacific walrus have been found dead along the Chukchi Sea northwest of Alaska.
The US Attorney in Alaska has been observing the investigation of 25 walruses discovered dead that were spotted at Cape Lisburne around 100 miles southwest of Point Lay.
“We’ve opened an investigation and can no longer answer questions about it”, she said. And several had had their heads and tusks removed, suggesting that it could have been a case of poaching.
“If we have one area where 35,000 of these animals are huddled together, it is not really far fetched to think that you may have a smaller aggregation of the animals in close vicinity”, said Horstmann-Dehn, who studies how walruses react and adapt to a changing climate.
Killing walruses is illegal under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, but with certain exceptions. Just like the elephants, the walrus tusk contains ivory that is very valuable in the various elicit circles. Walrus ivory is prized for jewelry and crafts.
But Alaska is also historically known as the base for a network of hunters and buyers, where a pair of walrus tusks on the black market can go for at least $300.
Alaskan natives are legally allowed to kill a walrus – but only if they harvest the entire kill and do not leave it to waste. Many walrus found in the Chukchi Sea north of the Bering Strait are females with pups that use ice as a platform from which to dive and rest. Arctic sea ice hit its summer minimum this month 1.7 million square miles, down 240,000 square miles from 2014, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. It’s the fourth-lowest level on record for summer sea ice in September.
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The animals feed on clams, sea snails and other food on the ocean bottom but can not swim indefinitely. In late summer, Chukchi Sea walrus gather in large numbers, almost shoulder to shoulder, on the Alaska coast. 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. They can be crushed to death when a herd stampedes due to disturbances from polar bears, people, aircraft or boat traffic.
