INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
About 2,500 seals have been found dead on the Caspian Sea coast in southern Russia, said the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Republic
of Dagestan on Sunday.Authorities in the Russian province of Dagestan said it was unclear why the mass die-off happened but that it was
likely due to natural causes.Regional officials initially reported Saturday that 700 dead seals were found on the coast, but the ministry
later raised the figure to about 2,500, AP reported.Zaur Gapizov, head of the Caspian Environmental Protection Center, said in a statement
that the seals likely died a couple of weeks ago
He added that there was no sign that they were killed or caught in fishing nets.Experts of the Federal Fisheries Agency and prosecutors
inspected the coastline and collected data for laboratory research, which didn''t immediately spot any pollutants.Several previous incidents
of mass seal deaths were attributed to natural causes
Kazakhstan, which has a long Caspian coastline, reported at least three such incidents this year.Data about the number of seals in the
The fisheries agency has said the overall number of Caspian seals is 270,000 to 300,000, while the Caspian Environmental Protection Center
put the number at 70,000.The post 2,500 dead seals found on Russia&s Caspian coast first appeared on Ariana News.
