Isabel Génova, director of the city’s environment department, reported no new deaths of sea lions and no cases of infections in other species. Regardless, both southern and northern breakwaters remain closed and advice from the National Security Agency not to approach the animals remains in effect.
On August 24, Senasa confirmed that the mass deaths of wolves recorded in the colonies of our city were linked to an outbreak of avian influenza, which soon spread to other colonies such as Mar del Plata and Chubut.
Although there are no official figures yet, it is estimated that around 200 wolves have died from the disease in the Necochea and Kaican regions.
The fact that no new deaths were recorded could be a sign that the outbreak is starting to wane, but authorities remain vigilant and are monitoring the situation.
Since the first case of avian influenza infection in a sea lion was discovered in the Tierra del Fuego province on August 8, confirmed cases have continued to appear along the entire coastline, all the way to the most severely affected province of Buenos Aires. .
“The affected areas correspond to sites defined as most important for monitoring marine mammals,” Senasa’s report said, revealing that as of September 11, 28 suspicions had been resolved, 17 of which had proven positive, One of them is due to “epidemiological relationships.”
In the province of Buenos Aires, the sea lion colonies in Puerto Quecan and Puerto Mar del Plata are composed entirely of male sea lions of different ages and are mainly concentrated during the non-breeding season – mid-February to mid-February. Starting in December. A large proportion of these animals then migrate to their habitats in the Uruguay Islands and their breeding grounds in Patagonia.
There are about 4,000 sea lions in the area, and Senasa estimates the mortality rate so far is 7 percent. Overall statistics show that 56% of sea lion deaths occurred in Buenos Aires province, which also has the most positive cases.