The rate of dead seal strandings in Maine is about three times the normal rate for the summer and is close to 60. Most of the seals that have been stranded this summer have been found dead, NOAA said. The dead seals have included gray seals and harbor seals.

Deaths of gray and harbor seals, in much greater numbers than usual, have been attributed to viruses related to distemper and the flu.

Marine mammal experts are testing tissue samples for a potential common cause of the surge in carcasses found on the state's beaches this year.

The state Department of Fish and Game is warning pet owners in the Interior and Southcentral Alaska about a recent spike in reports of tularemia – sometimes called “rabbit fever.”