<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">About 2,500 seals have been found dead on the Caspian Sea coast in southern Russia, officials say.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Officials say there is no sign that they died violent deaths.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Some 700 dead seals were initially reported, but further investigation has revealed a much higher number and counting continues.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Caspian seals have been classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list since 2008.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Zaur Gapizov, head of the Caspian Environmental Protection Center, said in a statement that the seals probably died about two weeks ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">There is no evidence to suggest the animals were killed or caught in fishing nets, he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The Dagestan region's ministry of natural resources and environment wrote on Telegram that a large number had been found between the mouths of two rivers, the Sulak and the Shurinka.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Experts have collected samples from the seals and the ministry said reasons for the deaths will be established when lab results come back.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The seal population of the Caspian Sea has dwindled drastically over the decades from over-hunting and industrial pollution.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The Caspian Environmental Protection Center puts the number now at just 70,000, down from more than one million around a century ago. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>