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2010-03-02 06:30:07 - Biological Hazard - Russia EDIS CODE: BH-20100302-25164-RUS
Date & Time: 2010-03-02 06:30:07 [UTC]
Area: Russia, Fa-East, Bering Sea areas, Event exciting : Climate Change?
Not confirmed information! Description: Some Russian scientists and indigenous peoples gave a knowing nod when they heard of last fall's unusual haulout of walrus on the shore of Northwest Alaska. The phenomenon has been noted in the Russian Far East for the past decade, except the haulouts are much larger. The Arctic Sounder reports on a recent visit to Point Hope by scientist Anatoly Kochnev and three members of a Russian village "polar bear patrol." Kochnev said that as haulouts get bigger, walrus deaths have also increased because of walrus stampedes. In 2007 scientists counted more than 3,000 walrus corpses along the Chukchi coast on the Russian side and estimate the total walrus deaths to be close to 10,000. Almost all the fatalities were young animals, crushed in stampedes. Before 2000, Kochnev said, scientists never saw groups of dead walruses like that. A more immediate worry for the Russian villagers: The walrus haulouts are attracting polar bears, which themselves are being driven onto land because of melting polar ice. Kochnev said that groups of up to 300 polar bear will hang out around the walrus herds. When those haulouts are close to human habitation, the consequences can be tragic. ... A young girl was killed by a polar bear in Ryrkaypyi in 2006, following two deaths from polar bear attacks in the same town in 2003. The villagers have established polar bear patrols and are taking steps to protect walrus during haulouts and prevent stampedes, according to The Sounder.
The name of Hazard: Walrus invasion
Species: Animal
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