A P.E.I. wildlife pathologist says he suspects that people are behind the deaths of more than 50 grey seals that washed up in Murray harbour last weekend.

Pierre-Yves Daoust, a wildlife pathologist with the University of Prince Edward Island, says students from the school found the seals on the province's eastern shore Saturday, just a day after seeing them healthy in the same area.

He says he suspects the seals were killed by people as they were found with wounds on their bodies, but he is carrying out necropsies to rule out the possibility of infections or other natural causes of death.

Daoust, who works at UPEI's Atlantic Veterinary College, says it would be highly unusual to have such a large number of seals die so quickly of natural causes.

He says the results will be passed on to investigators with the Fisheries Department in about a week.

With files from the Canadian Press