Rare male monk seal found dead
AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into the death of a rare seal found washed ashore at Sadrazamköy.
The dead male Mediterranean monk seal was one of fewer than 700 that exist worldwide. The species is featured on the “Red List” of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and holds the title of the rarest seal in the world.
The lifeless seal was found by Serkut, Salih and İşın Kiranoğlu, and Serhat Imamoğlu last Friday. They reported the sad find to the 1190 Wildlife Support Line.
It was later revealed that the seal had been dead for at least at week. Tissue samples were taken from the animal during a necropsy to be analysed to determine the cause of death.
A preliminary examination carried out by Taşkent Nature Park (TNP) officials revealed the animal to be a young male of 2.25m in length and weighing approximately 200 kilos.
After external inspection and biometric recordings, the seal was taken to the Wildlife Hospital and Research Laboratory animal morgue within the TNP.
Cyprus Wildlife Research Institute’s Kemal Basat informed Cyprus Today that “no external injuries were detected” on the animal.
On Monday experts, including TNP chief veterinary surgeon Tayfun Çanakçı, Veterinary Department vet Neslihan Öznur, and associate professor Wayne Fuller of Near East University’s veterinary medicine faculty, cooperated for the necropsy, while two vets from the Turkish Marine Research Foundation provided assistance remotely.
Several others from various organisations, including the Society for the Protection of Turtles, observed the necropsy.
The “macroscopic examinations” failed to establish the cause of death, but it is hoped that more detailed examinations will provide an answer.