Abstract
A male southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), estimated to be a 12-year-old, died suddenly without clinical signs. The animal had performed for an educational talk as usual, eating an average of 35.8kg of mackerel for 10 days, which was 2 days prior to its death. The animal had not been taken any medical treatment due to as the progress of illness was too fast. Gross and histopathological findings indicated pulmonary emphysema, acute catarrhal enteritis, chronic interstitial nephritis with pelvic calculi and atrophy of the lymph nodes. Five different bacteria including Clostridium perfringens A and Clostridium sp., were isolated from the blood sample within 1 hour postmortem.
