CAUSES OF MORTALITY AND NONFATAL CONDITIONS AMONG GREY SEALS (HALICHOERUS-GRYPUS) FOUND DEAD ON THE COASTS OF ENGLAND, WALES AND THE ISLE-OF-MAN

A survey of the diseases detectable in 141 grey seals stranded on the coasts of England and Wales away from breeding colonies was carried ou t between mid-1989 and early 1997. The most common fatal conditions in pups less than three weeks of age were trauma (24 per cent of deaths) and dystocia (12 per cent); in pups more than three weeks of age they were starvation (22 per cent) and pneumonia (22 per cent); in juvenil es they were drowning in fishing gear (30 per cent) and starvation (19 per cent), and in adults a variety of respiratory diseases were the m ost common causes of death (45 per cent). Many other diseases, both fa tal and non-fatal, were recorded.