Russia: About 2,500 seals have been found dead on the Caspian Sea coast in southern Russia. Regional officials reported that 700 dead seals were found on the coast, but the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment later raised the figure to about 2,500.

According to the authorities in the Russian province of Dagestan, the reason for mass deaths is unknown and it is likely due to natural causes.

Mr. Zaur Gapizov, head of the Caspian Environmental Protection Center, stated that “the seals likely died a couple of weeks ago.” Mr. Gapizov added that there was no sign that they were killed or caught in fishing nets.

Experts at the Federal Fisheries Agency and prosecutors have inspected the coastline and collected data for laboratory research. The primary inspection didn’t immediately spot any pollutants. Officials are awaiting laboratory test results.

The Dagestan region’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment remarked that a large number of seals are found between the mouths of two rivers, the Sulak and the Shurinka.

Based on the data of Fisheries Agency, the overall number of Caspian seals range from 270,000 to 300,000, while the Caspian Environmental Protection Center put the number at 70,000.

The seal population of the Caspian Sea has decreased significantly over the decades due to overhunting and industrial pollution.

Caspian Seals are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List since 2008.

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