Seal virus vaccine trial starts

Press, 12 October 1988, Page 21

Seal virus vaccine trial starts

NZPA-Reuter Dorking, England British veterinary surgeons have begun trials of a new Dutch vaccine they hope will combat a virus which has wiped out thousands of North Sea seals. The clinical trials of the vaccine, Kavak ID, began at a seal assessment unit run by the environmental group, Greenpeace, and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Dorking, a town in south-east England. Dutch scientists who began using the vaccine on healthy captive seals in August found that a double dose raised their resistance to canine distemper virus, which is believed to have caused the seals’ deaths. An R.S.P.C.A. official, Colin Booty, said if British trials were successful there might be mass vaccinations of grey seals, the latest victims Several deaths have been recorded among Britain’s 100,000 grey seals, which account for about two-thirds of the world seal population. Until now the common seal has been the hardest hit. “It may not be feasible to vaccinate common seals. But with the grey seals it would be more practical because their pups spend about three weeks on shore starting around this time of year,” Mr Booty said. Scientists believe the virus may have run its course in the waters off Sweden, Denmark, Norway, West Germany and the Netherlands after killing more than 12,000 common seals.