Article content

Pacific walruses that can’t find sea ice for resting in Arctic waters are coming ashore in record numbers on a beach in northwest Alaska.

An estimated 35,000 walruses were photographed Saturday eight kilometres north of Point Lay, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Incredible photos show 35,000 walruses standing shoulder-to-shoulder on Alaska beach due to lack of sea ice Back to video

Point Lay is an Inupiat Eskimo village 482 kilometres southwest of Barrow and 1,126 kilometres northwest of Anchorage.

The enormous gathering was spotted during NOAA’s annual arctic marine mammal aerial survey, spokeswoman Julie Speegle said by email. The survey is conducted with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the agency that oversees offshore lease sales.

Andrea Medeiros, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said walruses were first spotted Sept. 13 and have been moving on and off shore. Observers last week saw about 50 carcasses on the beach from animals that may have been killed in a stampede, and the agency was assembling a necropsy team to determine their cause of death.