MOSCOW (AP) – About 1,700 seals were found dead on Russia’s southern Caspian Sea coast, officials said Sunday.
Authorities in Russia’s Dagestan province said the cause of the animal’s death is still unknown, but it is likely that it died of natural causes.
Local authorities initially said 700 dead seals had been found on the beach on Saturday, but on Sunday Zaur Gapizov, head of the Caspian Sea Environmental Protection Center said they were dead after an extensive survey of the beach. said the number of animals had increased. State news agency RIA Novosti had 1,700.
Gapizov said the seal probably died a few weeks ago. He added that there was no evidence they were killed by poachers. Federal Fisheries Agency experts and prosecutors surveyed the shore and collected data for laboratory testing, but no contaminants were immediately detected.
Some previous seal mass deaths have been due to natural causes.
Data on the number of seals in the Caspian Sea are very diverse. According to the Fisheries Agency, the total number of Caspian seals he has is 270,000 to 300,000, and the Gapizov Center puts his 70,000.
