About 1.700 seals have been found dead on the shores of the Caspian Sea in southern Russia, officials said.
The authorities in the Russian province of Dagestan announced that it is not yet clear what caused the death of the animals, but that they probably died of natural causes, reports N1.
Regional officials initially announced on Saturday that 700 dead seals had been found on the coast, but today Zaur Gapizov, head of the Caspian Center for Environmental Protection, told the state news agency RIA Novosti that after a wider inspection of the coast, the number of dead animals was determined to be 1.700. .
Gapizov said the seals probably died a few weeks ago, adding that there were no signs they were killed by poachers.
Experts from the Federal Fisheries Agency and prosecutors examined the coast and collected data for laboratory research, which, according to preliminary results, did not detect any pollutants.
Several previous incidents of mass seal deaths have been attributed to natural causes.
Data on the number of seals in the Caspian Sea vary. The Fisheries Agency has said that the total number of Caspian seals is between 270.000 and 300.000, while others estimate that there are 70.000 individuals.
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