Hi Jim, You are brave for sampling the muktuk! The wind is even crazier in the winter. I didn't know why they were constantly plowing and moving snow all winter, even though in 3 weeks we only got a few snowflakes. It is because the wind redistributes everything very quickly and roads and paths disappear. They had huge mountains off snow across the road from BASC that they piled up there. Couple of questions about when you went to the scientist presentations. 1) What kind of contaminants were they looking for in the seal and walrus? Did they test for any POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) or mercury? Many of the atmospheric scientists I worked with were studying the transport of those pollutants. They are a big health concern for native diets since they bioaccumulate up the food chain. 2) How often do the Arctic Fox get rabies outbreaks in the area? When I was there there was an outbreak.

Thanks, Betsy

Jim Miller

Betsy, Greta was just looking at cell abnormalities, she was not looking for particular chemicals. When I asked her about the biomagnification she said that they are not finding hardly any contaminants in their system and they are very healthy creatures. I was kind of shocked at that as I thought the biomagnification would be a problem. When I asked Katie about the arctic foxes getting rabies the last data she had was from 2009 and I think they found 3 fox that had rabies. However, she reiterated that no one has died from arctic fox rabies in Alaska.
Hope that answers your questions!
Thanks!
Jim