A lost Baltic ringed seal cub has been rescued and sent to rehabilitation

A newborn female Baltic ringed seal was recently discovered on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea in the city of Sosnovy Bor (Leningrad region). Rosprirodnadzor announced this on its website. The storm that hit the region separated the baby from her mother, and the animal needed the help of specialists - the cub was sent for rehabilitation to the seal rescue center of the Friends of the Baltic Seal Foundation.

"According to zoologists, the animal is about 10 days old. The rescued female weighs 7 kilograms. Now the baby is receiving the required treatment and care. The Foundation has already sent documents to obtain permission from the Federal Service for Supervision of Nature Management to remove an animal listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation from natural conditions for treatment and rehabilitation," the agency said in a statement.

As noted in Rosprirodnadzor, the Baltic ringed seal is the smallest species found only in the waters of the Baltic Sea. Over the past 30 years, its population has significantly decreased and today does not exceed 100 individuals. According to experts, this is a critically low figure compared to the number of gray seals and Ladoga ringed seals.

This season, this is the second patient who arrived from the Leningrad Region at the seal rescue center of the Friends of the Baltic Seal Foundation.

"In early March, the center received a tiny Ladoga ringed seal. This is the smallest patient of the center. Upon admission to the specialists, the baby weighed only three kilograms. Now its weight has increased to four kg. Zoologists bought an "artificial mother" for a tiny patient — a toy imitating an animal," the message says.

Rosprirodnadzor reminds that the Baltic and Ladoga ringed seals, as well as the Baltic gray seal

they are protected by the state. Their removal from natural conditions is possible only to save or reproduce the population. Administrative and criminal liability is provided for the destruction of rare and endangered species.

"Touching discovered animals is strictly prohibited, it is impossible to make independent attempts to provide assistance without receiving instructions and consultations from specialists," the department warned.