Thousands of Dead Seals Mysteriously Wash Ashore in Russia

Around 2,500 of endangered seals within the Caspian Sea have washed ashore alongside the coast of Dagestan, Russia, CNN reports, citing the state-run information company RIA Novosti.

Authorities within the area don’t know why so many Caspian seals have died in such a brief time frame. Scientists are involved, as a result of Caspian seals are the one marine mammal that stay within the Caspian Sea and aren’t discovered anyplace else on the earth, the Washington Post reports.

Dagestan’s Ministry of Natural Resources imagine the seals died from pure causes about two weeks in the past, based on CNN. The ministry mentioned it couldn’t discover proof of violence or that the seals had been caught in fishing nets earlier than they died.

Kazakhstan, one of many five countries that surrounds the Caspian Sea, has additionally reported three alarming seal die-offs this yr, Reuters reported. According to state information, inspectors have continued to go looking the shoreline to see if extra seal our bodies wash up. Experts are additionally analyzing the our bodies that they’ve recovered in hopes of studying extra about the reason for demise.

Caspian seals have been listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 2008. Their inhabitants declined by about 70% within the twentieth century on account of extreme fur and blubber searching, based on the IUCN. Today, the Caspian seals face challenges like environmental degradation, habitat loss, and entanglements with fishing gear.

It’s unclear simply what number of seals there are within the landlocked sea. According to the Caspian Seal Research and Rehabilitation Center’s web site, there are about 70,000 seals within the area, however regional fisheries declare there are 270,000 to 300,000, Reuters reviews.