The War in Ukraine is wreaking havoc on Black Sea dolphins, killing over 5,000 so far, according to a Ukrainian scientist.
Ivan Rusev, an environmental scientist at Ukraine’s Tuzly Lagoons National Nature Park, told the Kyiv Independent that the rate at which the dolphins are dying is three times that of prewar levels.
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He said he believes that so many are dying because of Russian sonars, warships, explosions, and mines, which disorientate and kill them. Other scientists and ecologists from outside of Ukraine dismiss these claims altogether, claiming there is no evidence the war is affecting the dolphins.
“Dolphins fall into the radiation zone of ships’ navigation devices, which disables their organs of navigation and echolocation,” Rusev said, according to the Daily Mail. “Having lost their orientation, animals lose acoustic control over the environment. ‘Blind’ dolphins are in stress and panic, unable to navigate in space. As a result, they hit all kinds of obstacles, including mines, crash against rocks. And the main thing — such ‘paralyzed’ dolphins cannot catch fish and quickly get exhausted.”
He claimed that the exhaustion resulting from sonars and explosions weaken the dolphins’ immune systems, making them more susceptible to parasites and diseases.
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As evidence, Rusev pointed to the findings of his colleagues and ecologists from Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey who note that an abnormally high number of dolphin corpses have washed up on shore this year. In tests of the corpses, Rusev’s colleagues found that half of these corpses had died from diseases or parasites, which he said backs his claims, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Biologists in Turkey dismissed Rusev’s claims that the war has been the cause behind increased deaths in the dolphin population. They cited the fact that the war is occurring nearly 400 miles away from Turkey as much too far for the noise to have any discernible impact on the dolphin population closer to the Turkish coast.
