The seals who died in the Caspian are burned in a private crematorium

The mass death of animals caused a huge public outcry, environmentalists, scientists sounded the alarm, and experts started talking about a catastrophe on a global scale.

Especially often carcasses were found during this week in the Yuzbash area, as well as between the mouths of the Sulak and Shurinka rivers. Various reasons for what happened were called: from the release of methane into the sea to the human factor.

According to eco-activists, the death of seals could mean serious problems in the ecology of Dagestan and a number of states that have access to the Caspian Sea. But even more alarming among local residents and public figures was the fact that throughout this time, thousands of dead seals were lying on the shore.

Alas, none of the regulatory authorities, veterinarians, local authorities were going to remove them. As a result, the smell spread for kilometers, and the sight itself was terrible. Until recently, officials could not decide whose responsibility it was.

As a rule, locals, beach tenants, municipal services were engaged in the disposal of dead animals. No one took over the task centrally. According to Zaur Gapizov, director of the “Caspian Environmental Center”, who, by the way, was the first to sound the alarm, the coastal line is federal property, so the area of ​​responsibility is on structures of the same level. But Rosrybolovstvo, Rosprirodnadzor, Rosselkhoznadzor and the Ministry of Natural Resources, apparently shifted the solution of the problem to each other.

And finally, yesterday, as the Makhachkala interdistrict environmental prosecutor, senior adviser to justice Maxim Makashov, told MK, dead animals began to be removed and disposed of. And also, according to him, such a mass death of seals in Dagestan began already in the 20s of the last century.

“The harvesting of seals along the coast with subsequent disposal began on December 8,” Makashov said. – Municipalities do this with the involvement of authorized bodies. Mostly veterinarians, employees of Rosselkhoznador, veterinary committees, volunteers, but everything is on commission. On the eve, the day before yesterday, a meeting was held with the chairman of the government of the Republic of Dagestan, at which the ways of disposing of the dead seals, the forces and means that will be involved in this were discussed.

To date, the number of ringed seals washed ashore is being monitored until it increases.

“We will dispose of it by incineration,” the prosecutor continues. – You can’t do this on the shore, there is a 500-meter nature protection zone, so the carcasses are collected, taken out by large vehicles and have already begun to be burned in stoves built specifically for animals. It’s like a crematorium, but it’s private, located in the vicinity of Makhachkala in the industrial zone.”

The reason for the mass death of seals is being investigated. This is now being done by scientists who will report directly to the Minister of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation Alexander Kozlov. That is, the issue is supervised at the federal level.

“How long will it take? Based on the possibilities. For example, yesterday the weather was very bad. Rain, wind, storm, and in such conditions it is hard for people to work, even tractors got stuck in this sand on the shore,” Makashov explained. “They took two days for everything.”

It is known that science has recorded the death of seals for a hundred years, at least periodically in the autumn-winter period and in the spring, when they migrate.

“The migration routes are the same, but the death of seals at this time occurs due to various natural reasons,” the prosecutor of environmental protection of Dagestan explained to MK. – The first cases were registered already in the 20s of the last century. Then this seal was called the “floating seal”.

Along the coast there were working artels. The men collected dead and discarded seals on the sand, took out and rendered fat from them, which they used for economic and industrial purposes. If there were enough dead seals for artels, then a sufficient number of them died at that time.

Was the person involved in the death? Hardly. The only conclusion so far is that there is not enough information, so constant scientific monitoring is needed, maybe even at the interstate level.”

According to scientists and experts, one of the main causes of this environmental catastrophe may still be natural disasters.

“You need to know for sure where the seals go on specific migration routes, what kind of seismic and hydrological processes are taking place there, or what kind of reaction the same seals have to them,” Maxim Makashov continues. “Even yesterday, when we were sitting here, the chairs shook, because there was an earthquake nearby, and if here, then something could move again in the sea, happen, “exhale”. The plates are moving, the earth is alive.

And the Caucasus Mountains are young, still in the formation stage. And what is going on there, at the bottom of the Caspian Sea, is only supposed.

Gas and oil deposits have already been found there, wells are being developed. In 2020, we had a similar situation, the cause was called natural phenomena, gas emissions. Scientists have been working on all this for a year and a half, studying the information, and no one will say for sure this week.”

In turn, as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia told MK, all possible resources were involved in the investigation of the circumstances of the incident and the establishment of the causes of the mass death of seals. According to the head of the department Alexander Kozlov, it will be possible to speak about the results only after December 15, when specialists will complete a survey of the entire coast where dead animals were found, which is more than 320 kilometers.