Dead dolphins wash up on Georgia’s Black Sea coastline
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More than a dozen dead dolphins have washed up on Georgia’s Black Sea coastline, with authorities unsure why.
A total of 19 dead dolphins were spotted this month washed up along the coastline from Ganmukhuri to Sarpi.
Authorities said they didn’t know the exact cause of death but suggested it could be a result of dolphin morbillivirus, a virus that infects marine mammals.
"Experts from the Fishery and the Black Sea Monitoring Department of the National Environmental Agency are carrying out research regarding this issue,” authorities said.
Meanwhile they warned citizens to be careful and not to touch the dead dolphins.
Six men are facing charges of "battery and other violence” after they allegedly broke into a dolphin aquarium, got into a brawl with security guards and demanded the mammals be set free in Georgia’s Black Sea coastal city Batumi.
Batumi Dolphinarium is celebrating the birth of a dolphin calf.
Water quality monitoring of the Black Sea has shown it to be “within the norm” along the coastline, the National Environment Agency of Georgia said on Monday.
The National Environment Agency of Georgia on Monday said it would monitor the quality of the Black Sea water at its nine stations once every 10 days to identify the main physical and chemical parameters including salinity, content of dissolved oxygen and biogenic elements.