At least 164 seals and sea lions have been found dead in recent days on the shores of Santa Vitoria Palmar, a town in southern Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state, local authorities said on Friday, blaming avian flu for the massacre.
The bodies of the marine mammals washed up along 45 km of coastline and were buried to avoid any contagion, municipal authorities told French news agency AFP.
They were found around 20 kilometres from the border with Uruguay, where the authorities reported in September the discovery of almost 400 seal and sea lion corpses, whose deaths were also attributed to avian flu.
Despite this latest discovery, Brazil maintains its status as a “disease-free” country, as “no commercial production has been affected” to date, according to the government.
Although cases of human infection are rare, the Brazilian authorities have warned the public not to approach the bodies and to keep their pets away.
In Brazil, the first outbreak of avian flu in marine mammals was identified at Cassino, another beach in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, according to the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, which reported it at the beginning of October.
Peru, Chile and Argentina have also reported deaths among their marine wildlife attributed to the virus, which causes serious muscular, neurological and respiratory lesions.
