AROUND 2500 DEAD CASPIAN SEALS WASH ASHORE IN RUSSIA’S DAGESTAN

Facebook (запрещено в РФ) / Caspian Seal Research and Rehabilitation Center

Mon 25 December 2022:

In the Russian region of Dagestan in the North Caucasus, over 2,500 dead seals have washed up on the shores of the Caspian Sea. On Sunday, the Russian government said that up to 2,500 animal carcasses had been discovered in and around Makhachkala, the country’s capital.

Up to 700 dead seals were initially reported on Saturday, and the authorities released footage and images.

It is still unknown what killed the protected creatures.

It stated that while the investigations were ongoing, the number of cadavers might increase.

Officials say that there were no signs of violent deaths and the seals likely died due to natural causes. Caspian seals are classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list since 2008.

Zaur Gapizov, head of the Caspian Environmental Protection Center, said in a statement that the deaths seem to have happened about two weeks ago. There is no evidence to suggest the animals were killed or caught in fishing nets, he said.

Experts at the Federal Fisheries Agency have collected samples from the seals to understand the exact cause of the deaths. There are no signs of any pollutants and lab results will ascertain what exactly happened.

Several more such deaths have been reported this year, with Kazakhstan alone witnessing at least three such incidents.

The Caspian seal is an endangered species and is under special protection. According to animal rights activists, their population has declined by around 90 percent over the past 100 years – also because of the increasing pollution of the Caspian Sea, where oil is extracted, for example. According to experts, the animals are dying from oil leaks, poaching and overfishing.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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