Russia: Hundreds of dead Caspian seals found in North Caucasus

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A photo from 2020: Even then, hundreds of dead Caspian seals were washed ashore in Makhachkala

Photo: HANDOUT/AFP

Hundreds of dead seals have washed ashore on the Caspian Sea in the Russian republic of Dagestan.

The Russian authorities informed on Saturday about the discovery of 650 to 700 animal carcasses in the capital Makhachkala and published videos about it on the Telegram platform.

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 hundred years - also because of the increasing pollution of the Caspian Sea, where oil is extracted, for example.

According to experts, many animals are dying from oil spills, poaching and overfishing.

The cause of the death of the animals that were now washed ashore was initially unclear.

The investigation was said to be ongoing.

The local authorities in the North Caucasus reminded on Telegram that there was a mass death of seals in the Caspian Sea in November 2020.

At that time, more than 300 dead animals were found, it said.

Memories of the 2020 Caspian seal die-off

At the time, scientists considered the most likely cause of death to be a "release of natural gas," the authorities wrote.

They pointed out that mud volcanoes, among other things, release gases and oil in the Caspian Sea.

Mud volcanoes form when water-saturated sediment underground at great depths heats up, rises and swells out of elevations – usually on the sea floor.

Drilling for oil or gas is likely to increase these activities.

Russian authorities did not comment on this.

However, authorities wrote that in the case of the dead seals in 2020, released natural gas could have caused a lack of oxygen in the animals' blood.

This could eventually lead to paralysis of the respiratory center and death of the animals, so one assumption.

In the current case, however, the clarification is still available, "natural, parasitological or other reasons" are conceivable.

kko/dpa