Officials announced on Sunday that over 2,500 seals had been discovered dead along southern Russia’s Caspian Sea coast. On Saturday, initial reports stated that 700 dead seals had been discovered around the coast. The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment increased the number following more research, to approximately 2,500, and expects it to increase even higher.
According to officials, there were no indications of violent murders, and the seals were most likely killed by natural causes. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed Caspian seals as endangered since 2008.
Experts at the Federal Fisheries Agency have taken samples from the seals to determine the cause of death
The deaths appear to have occurred around two weeks ago, according to a statement from Zaur Gapizov, director of the Caspian Environmental Protection Center. According to him, there is no proof that the animals were murdered or caught in fishing nets.
To determine the precise cause of the deaths, experts at the Federal Fisheries Agency have taken samples from the seals. There are no indications of any pollutants, and lab results will reveal the precise circumstances.
Due to overhunting and industrial pollution, the population of Caspian Sea seals has severely decreased over the past few decades. The Caspian Environmental Protection Center claims that there are only about 70,000 Caspian seals left in existence, compared to the fisheries agency’s estimate of 270,000–300,000 altogether. This year, at least a few more of these fatalities have been documented, with at least three of them occurring alone in Kazakhstan. (www.vidaliaonion.org)