Biologists are trying to determine what's ailing ringed seals that live off Alaska's Arctic coast. Scores of seals stranded on beaches this summer appeared to have skin lesions, and dozens have died.
Carcasses examined so far have shown no indication of disease, and tests are pending for harmful algal toxins. Seabirds have been found emaciated and starved, and changed ocean conditions may have affected prey.
Two hundred walruses surprised residents on an Alaskan peninsula after arriving en masse on a beach.
Frigid north winds blow down from the Arctic Ocean, freeze saltwater and push sea ice south. The ice normally prevents waves from forming and locks onto beaches, walling off villages. But not this year.
The closures of the campgrounds, facing the threat of falling trees, likely will last through summer, the state parks division said.
"It is unusual for bears with youngsters to wake up so early and it is difficult to say why these have come out. The bears may have been disturbed by humans or other animals."
Walruses over the last decade have come to shore on the Alaska and Russia sides of the Chukchi Sea as sea ice diminishes because of global warming.
Sea ice in the Chukchi Sea disappeared far earlier than normal this spring as a result of exceptionally warm ocean temperatures.
The country's 3,300 miles of ice roads are a lifeline for marooned communities during frigid winters, but climate change is making the roads unsafe much earlier.
"For our grandchildren and their children, now the devastation has left them nothing": Shackan First Nation Chief Arnold Lampreau.
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