Photo: Press Service of the Ecology Department of the Mangystau Region of Kazakhstan
More than 100 carcasses of dead seals have been found in the Kazakhstani sector of the Caspian Sea. The Ecology Department of the Mangystau region reported the discovery on its Instagram account (Instagram is banned in Russia; Meta is designated an extremist organization in the Russian Federation).
The dead animals were discovered during shoreline monitoring in the Tupkaragan district, from the settlement of Asan to Cape Bautino. Environmental specialists collected water samples to determine the cause of the incident.
The Caspian seal is listed in Kazakhstan’s Red Book of endangered species. According to scientists, more than 240,000 individuals currently inhabit the waters of the Kazakhstani sector of the Caspian Sea. Mass die-offs occur almost every year. In 2024, more than one thousand dead seals washed ashore in the Mangystau region. Experts have suggested that maritime traffic, pollution, the presence of microplastics, and fishing nets — in which the seals become entangled and injured — may contribute to their deaths.
In 2022–2023, the animals also died from canine distemper and acute pneumonia.
