August
16, 2002
Virus kills seals
Half the seal population of Western Europe is expected to die from a virus
attacking the mammals between southern Sweden and the Dutch coast.
About 20,000 seals are at risk from an epidemic similar to one 14 years ago,
Swedish researchers say.
About 2,500 dead seals have been found in waters between Sweden and Denmark,
and the outbreak was expected to spread to the Wadden Sea area of the Netherlands
and the German coast where only 180 dead animals had been found.
It is unclear what caused the epidemic, which kills the seals painfully as
the virus breaks down their immune system and causes death from pneumonia-like
symptoms.
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August
16, 2002
World keeps warming
British weather experts say the first six months of 2002 have been the second
warmest ever, and average worldwide temperatures this year could be highest
on record.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body that advises governments
on climatic change, blames the data on global warming caused by increased amounts
of greenhouse gases trapping heat in the atmosphere.
A scientist with the British Meteorological Office said the rise in global
temperatures before 1970 can be blamed partly on polluting activities and partly
on natural effects, but since 1970 scientists generally agree the rise can be
attributed mainly to man's polluting activities.
The office said global temperatures were .57 °C higher than the long-term
average of about 15 °C from January to June.
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August
16, 2002
Whale hunt in limbo
Alaskan Eskimo whalers are disappointed that Japan is still blocking their
bowhead hunt.
At a meeting of the International Whaling Commission last May, Japan voted to
prevent the commission's approval of a five-year continuation of the Alaskan
bowhead hunt. Japanese delegates charged it was hypocrisy to approve aboriginal
whaling quotas and then disallow Japan's attempts to start a minke whale harvest.
In June, Japanese officials said they would no longer block the quota, but
last week a Japanese whaling negotiator said it would seek a more limited hunt
when the whaling commission meets again in October.
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