2500 seals found dead along the coastline of Russia's Caspian Sea

Around 2,500 seals have been found dead on the coast of the Caspian Sea in southern Russia, officials said on November 4, reported the Guardian. Initially, it was reported that 700 dead Caspian seals have been found on the Russian coastline on November 3. But as per the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the number of dead Caspian seals has increased to almost 2,500. 

Caspian seals found dead 

According to the authorities in the Russian province of Dagestan, it has been unclear why the mass deaths happened but were sure that it might be because of natural causes. The data on the Caspian seals have varied widely. The overall number of seals on the Russian coastline is close to three lakhs, however, the Caspian Environmental Protection Center has recorded the number at seventy thousand, reported The Guardian. These seals have been classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.

 The head of the Caspian Environmental Protection Center, Zaur Gapizov said that the seals have likely died a couple of weeks ago and there were no signs of being killed due to fishing nets. As per the data collected for laboratory research and inspected coastline, there were no spots of pollutants, said the experts of the Federal Fisheries Agency and prosecutors. However, Officials have been waiting for the laboratory test results. In the past, several cases of Caspian seals have been there where they were found to be dead because of natural causes. One of the mass death cases of Caspian seals is in  Kazakhstan, where at least three such incidents have been reported this year.