Mystery seal deaths

Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead has asked scientists to examine the potential cause of death of the animals whose carcasses were washed ashore showing a single, smooth-edged cut starting at the head and spiralling around the body.

The Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews will investigate the strange 'corkscrew' injuries, which are not consistent with any known phenomenon such as those caused by fishing nets or boat propellers.

Mr Lochhead said: "Seals form an important part of Scotland's rich marine environment and it's critical that we establish the cause of these strange seal deaths and do all we can to protect our seal populations, particularly as numbers have reduced in recent years.

 "I would encourage any member of the public who encounters a seal carcass to contact the Sea Mammal Research Unit, which will help to establish the scale of these issues.

Within the last two months seven incidents involving both common and grey seals have been reported in St Andrews Bay and the Firth of Forth. Six further incidents, which took place in 2008 and 2009 in the same areas, have since been linked to these phenomena. Meanwhile, four incidents were reported in Norfolk in July, part of twenty such occurrences in that area over the last year. Similar unsolved seal mortalities have been reported off the Atlantic coast of Canada in the past ten years.