Clinical, pathological, and laboratory diagnoses of diseases of harbour porpoises ( Phocoena phocoena ), live stranded on the Dutch and adjacent coasts from 2003 to 2016

Harbour porpoises ( Phocoena phocoena ) in the North Sea live in an environment heavily impacted by humans, the consequences of which are a concern for their health. Autopsies carried out on stranded harbour porpoises provide an opportunity to assess health problems in this species. We performed 61 autopsies on live-stranded harbour porpoises, which died following admission to a rehabilitation centre between 2003 and 2016. The animals had stranded on the Dutch ( n = 52) and adjacent coasts of Belgium ( n = 2) and Germany ( n = 7). We assigned probable causes for stranding based on clinical and... Mehr ...