WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of walruses have come ashore in northwest Alaska because the sea ice they normally rest on has melted.
Federal scientists say this massive move to shore by walruses is unusual in the United States. But it has happened at least twice before, in 2007 and 2009. In those years Arctic sea ice also was at or near record low levels.
“(The walruses) stretch out for one mile or more. This is just packed shoulder to shoulder,” U.S. Geological Survey biologist Anthony Fischbach said from Alaska.
Scientists with two federal agencies are most concerned about the 1-ton female walruses stampeding and crushing one another and their smaller calves near Point Lay, Alaska, on the Chukchi Sea.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to change airplane flight patterns to avoid spooking the animals.
