ABSTRACT
The second mode of disease emergence occurs as an unfortunate consequence of efforts to restock species for conservation purposes (Daszak et al., 2000). This practice has allowed the
translocation of hosts and pathogenic organisms, facilitating the exposure of previously naive animals to new diseases. Examples in marine mammals are currently rare, although the spread of leptospirosis was described in harbor seals (
P. vitulina
) during rehabilitation, probably as a result of exposure to terrestrial mammals, such as skunks (Stamper et al., 1998). The difficulty in preventing spread of disease in the open ocean environment means that, once introduced, the consequences of a novel disease could be devastating.
