INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Gapizov, head of the Caspian Environmental Protection Center, said the seals may have died weeks ago and their overall number is likely
messaging app.The Kommersant business daily cited a North Caucasus fisheries official as saying that the seals may have been killed by
prolonged storms, while the Fontanka.ru news website reported that the mass deaths could have been caused by a natural gas leak from the
resource-rich sea.Many of the dead Caspian seals were discovered between the mouths of two rivers and one canal in the southern Russian
republic.The unexplained incident is believed to be the largest mass death of Caspian seals in recent years following the discovery of some
Caspian seal population has dropped by 90% over the past century due to illegal hunting and climate change-driven declines in water levels,
Environmental Protection Center meanwhile places the total population of Caspian seals at fewer than 70,000.Gapizov told RIA Novosti his
center will seek state funding to count the Caspian seal population.
