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Twenty animals were found dead on a beach in Istanbul on the Black Sea. Experts wonder if their death is linked to the war in Ukraine.
The Turkish Maritime Research Foundation is concerned regarding the growing number of dead dolphins. (Illustrative photo)
AFP
A volunteer from an animal relief NGO found the bodies of twenty-four dolphins on a beach in Agaçli. This place is located in the north of Istanbul, on the shore of the Black Sea. The man alerted the authorities, according to the private Turkish channel NTV. The gendarmerie took the remains of the animals to determine the cause of their death.
“The shores on the other side of the Black Sea are a war zone. Did they die from chemicals in the water? We must determine the cause,” Gurkan Gazoglu, the volunteer who found the dead dolphins, told NTV. Part of Ukraine borders the Black Sea.
“There has been an extraordinary increase in the number of dolphins found dead on the western shores of the Black Sea in Turkey over the past month,” the Turkish Maritime Research Foundation said in a statement on Saturday.
Typically, most dolphins found dead die while trapped in fishing nets or pelagic trawls, but the reason for the unprecedented rise in such cases and their concentration in the Black Sea remains unexplained, according to the foundation. “We are studying the effect of climate change, unusual maritime traffic, fish migrations and intense military activities that cause dolphins to move south,” the foundation added.
(AFP)