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.