In the Odesa region, 22 dead dolphins were found in a single day at the Tuzly Estuaries National Park
7 June 00:21
Twenty-two dead dolphins were found on the coast of the Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park in the Odesa region. Ivan Rusev, an ecologist and head of the national park’s research department, reported this on his Facebook page on June 6, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to him, on June 5, during a survey of a 25-kilometer stretch of coastline, the bodies of 20 Azov dolphins, one bottlenose dolphin, and one white-beaked dolphin were discovered.
“They died more than a month ago, and only now has the Black Sea washed them ashore. We have never recorded such a large number of dead dolphins in a single day during the war,” Rusev wrote in his post.
The ecologist noted that dolphin deaths and the washing up of their bodies in late May and early June were also recorded along the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria. In addition, he said, live but severely injured animals are being found in the Gulf of Odessa.
According to Rusev, the cause of the cetaceans’ deaths is the consequences of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. He said that the Black Sea ecosystem is being affected by explosions, missile launches, the operation of military ships’ sonar, as well as water pollution from heavy metals, petroleum products, sunflower oil, and other substances that enter the sea as a result of hostilities.
