HOME | DD

Description
I'm participating in Inktober this year, and I've decided to focus on "Underappreciated Endangered Species" as my theme. I hope to learn about some new species myself, and raise a bit of awareness for animals in trouble that get overlooked.

Day 23 - Caspian Seal

Pusa caspica is an endangered pinniped endemic to the inland Caspian Sea. Though there are approximately 68,000 adult seals remaining, the population historically numbered in the millions. Hunting caused a major decline in Caspian Seal numbers in the 20th century; modern threats include by-catch, deliberate poaching, and disease.

By-catch of the Caspian Seal by illegal sturgeon poachers does serious harm, with over twelve hundred seals killed in a single sturgeon fishing season. Commercial fishers operating legally in the Caspian Sea kill another ~500 seals a year. The Caspian Seal also suffers from outbreaks of Canine Distemper Virus, spread by an overly abundant population of feral dogs in the region.

Description
I'm participating in Inktober this year, and I've decided to focus on "Underappreciated Endangered Species" as my theme. I hope to learn about some new species myself, and raise a bit of awareness for animals in trouble that get overlooked.

Day 23 - Caspian Seal

Pusa caspica is an endangered pinniped endemic to the inland Caspian Sea. Though there are approximately 68,000 adult seals remaining, the population historically numbered in the millions. Hunting caused a major decline in Caspian Seal numbers in the 20th century; modern threats include by-catch, deliberate poaching, and disease.

By-catch of the Caspian Seal by illegal sturgeon poachers does serious harm, with over twelve hundred seals killed in a single sturgeon fishing season. Commercial fishers operating legally in the Caspian Sea kill another ~500 seals a year. The Caspian Seal also suffers from outbreaks of Canine Distemper Virus, spread by an overly abundant population of feral dogs in the region.