Russia: Will the Baikal-seal die ?

Greenpeace Baikal-Project 2001

Hamburg, Irkutsk - Greenpeace Baikal-Project 2001. The Greenpeace team makes an report about the size of the seal population. Since 1994 many of them died because of industrial waste and hunting. Especially hunting has increased within the last years.
 
From April to Mai the Greenpeace team was in action to try to prevent the seal from illegal hunters. Inspectations were made to get information about the kind of industrial poisons and the illnesses the seals suffer from as a result. In April 2000 Greenpeace startet this campaign to protect the Baikal seal from becoming instincted. The whole ecosystem is in real danger and suffering from the industrial waste. In 1994 about 104.000 seals lived at Baikal. In April 2000 there were only 65.000 left.
 
Baikal is the area were the Russian environmetal work started in 1957. 80 % of the 2.500 animals & plant species, which live there, only live there! Throgh man´s hand 33% of all Baikal seals died within the last 6 years! Illegal hunting and industrial waste killed them.
 
The fur of these seals is very expensive, that´s why so many are killed and sold. Russia has no money for projects to help, that´s why Greendpace is the only chance to save the seals.

(text from: Greenpeace)