The Black Sea turns into the Dead Sea — Russia drives dolphins to extinction
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Russia's aggression against Ukraine takes lives not only of people but also of marine life. In the first year of the full-scale war alone, about 50 thousand dolphins died due to the use of locators. It will take decades to restore the population.
This was reported in the story of the Czech TV channel CT24.
They go blind and wither away
Now the Black Sea looks more like the Dead Sea, Ivan Rusiev, head of the research department of the Tuzly Estuaries National Park, tells the channel. According to him, in the first year of the war, scientists found the bodies of 52 dead dolphins in an area of 6 kilometers alone. The main reason for their deaths is the impact of warship sonar, which disorients animals.
"The dolphin goes completely blind, it cannot find food, it gets separated from its family and withers away," says Ivan Rusiev.
In addition, cetaceans are also killed by mines and missile strikes.
Evidence for the Tribunal
Environmentalists believe that it will take at least 50 years after the end of hostilities for the dolphin population to recover. To facilitate this process, they plan to create a special rehabilitation center for cetaceans.
Currently, the aggressor's warships have returned to the occupied Crimea, so no dead dolphins have been found on the Ukrainian coast for a long time. But sometimes the bodies of the animals are still brought to the Odesa region. Ivan Rusiev and his colleagues will continue to monitor the effects of the war on the marine mammal population. They expect to submit the collected data to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
As a reminder, Ukrainian scientists reported the return of penguins to an Antarctic island.
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