Tragedy of the Caspian seal

The mass mortality of Caspian seals occurred on the Dagestan coast of the Caspian Sea (Russia), in the water area adjacent to the Agrakhanskiy Peninsula. The first dead seals were stranded in October, 2012. Carried out on the17th of October, a survey of the coastline showed that the scale of that tragedy was very large. On a five-kilometer coastal line, in the southern part of the Agrakhanskiy Peninsula, the staff of the Dagestanskiy State Nature Reserve counted about 150 seal corpses, and on 1 km of the coast in the Agrakhanskiy Sanctuary – 20 dead seals. In total, according to experts, up to 500 Caspian seals died on the coast of the peninsula and adjacent areas. Most of the dead animals were adults, rather large animals.

Source: The Dagestanskiy State Nature Reserve, Russia.

In the photo: the Agrakhanskiy Bay, the Agrakhanskiy Peninsula. The Caspian Sea, Russia.