More than 30 dead seals found on the Caspian coast in Kazakhstan

[INTRO]Workers of a Kazakh oil and gas company found 32 dead seals on Thursday evening on the Caspian Sea coast near the Kalamkas oil field in the republic's Mangistau Region, the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan reported on Friday.[/INTRO]

"Workers of JSC "Mangistaumunaigaz", while patrolling the coastal zone along the water-protection dam of the "Kalamkas" field on Thursday evening, found 32 dead seals", the statement says.
According to the ministry, the circumstances are being investigated by the Regional Department of Environmental Protection and the regional emergency department.
This is not the first case of mass deaths of Caspian seals in the Kalamkas field area. From March 31 to May 14, 2007, 928 dead seals were found here. The most likely cause of the animals' deaths at that time was determined to be canine distemper.
The presence of this virus in the carcasses of the dead seals was established by examinations conducted by two institutes - the Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems and the Institute of Microbiology and Virology of Kazakhstan. Influenza A and B viruses were not detected in samples from the dead animals, and the levels of heavy metal salts (copper, lead, cadmium, mercury, zinc) were normal. Studies
carried out in the area where the dead seals were found did not reveal elevated levels of phenols, heavy metals or petroleum products. No deaths of sturgeon or common freshwater fish species were recorded.
The largest mass death of seals on the Kazakh coast of the Caspian was recorded in 2000, when about 10.5 thousand animals died. Specialists named chronic toxicosis as the cause of death. Over several years, due to biological characteristics, oil toxins and agricultural pesticides had accumulated in the animals' bodies, which caused the seals' immunity to drop sharply.
The official conclusion was based on research conducted at the State Anti-Plague Institute, the Astrakhan Research Institute of Fisheries, and by one of the world's leading seal specialists - Scottish professor Kalan Dak.

Source: www.news.trend.az