Walrus nonsense

According to the ABC everything can be blamed on climate change:
Climate change blamed for beaching of 35,000 walruses on Alaskan coastline

At least 35,000 Pacific walruses have beached themselves on a remote Alaskan coastline in a phenomenon blamed on the melting of arctic ice due to climate change, experts say.

Of course finding that this event is not unprecedented casts a long shadow over such claims. We are surprised again that ABC's reporters are unable to do basic research. 

Here's a start for ABC's sheltered workshop ....
Mass haulouts of Pacific walrus and stampede deaths are not new, not due to low ice cover

Large haulouts of walruses — such as the one making news at Point Lay, Alaska on the Chukchi Sea (and which happened before back in 2009) — are not a new phenomenon for this region over the last 45 years and thus cannot be due to low sea ice levels. Nor are deaths by stampede within these herds (composed primarily of females and their young) unusual, as a brief search of the literature reveals.