Recently, some netizens filmed a video of the national first-class protected animal spotted seal in the waters of Shenyang Hunhe and Puhe River, on June 15, Shenyang Evening News, Shen Bao all media reporter learned that relevant departments and volunteers have gone to the area where seals appear to carry out net clearance operations to prevent seals from being caught by fishing nets, and the Shenyang Fishery Administration law enforcement department has sent law enforcement personnel to the scene to strengthen patrols and publicity. Shenyang wildlife conservation experts said that spotted seals breed in Dalian, Panjin and other waters in winter, and after May swim out of the Bohai Sea into the northern Yellow Sea and the western part of the Korean Peninsula, at this time and place, the appearance of spotted seals in the waters of Central Liaoning and Shenyang is extremely rare, one situation may be from the top of the Liaodong Sea by mistake; another may be because it has just recently been upgraded from the national second level to the national first level protected animal, may be illegal breeders worried about being punished and abandoned.
Seals are frequently photographed in Shenyang waters
On June 14, a video of a spotted seal appearing in the waters of the Hun River in Shenyang was circulating on the Internet, in which a spotted seal would jump under the water with one body, and one would show its head on the water, freely shuttling in the water, looking cute and cute. On June 15, the reporter learned from the Shenyang Wildlife Conservation Association that the first thing they received was a report of a seal appearing in the waters of the Puhe River in Central Liaoning District, and then the association found a video about the appearance of seals in the Hun River, but they have not yet obtained the exact location of the seals in the Hun River.
According to Liu Peng, vice president of the Liaozhong Branch of the Shenyang Wildlife Conservation Association, on June 10, they also received a report from volunteers that two spotted seals were found along the Zhakou River along the Pu River in the lower reaches of the Pu River in Liaozhong District. Liu Peng provided reporters with multiple videos taken by nearby residents, which were all videos of the activities of 1 seal, but some nearby residents said that they had witnessed 2 seals appearing at the same time.
The Pu River seal video body is mostly exposed to the water
The reporter saw that in the videos taken by these residents of Liaoning, in addition to swimming scenes similar to those of the "Hun River Seals" on the Internet, there were also scenes of seals with spots trying to climb up the shoals of the gate, which contained the entire body of the seals, ruling out the conjecture that people had thought that they were "otters" and other animals. Only to see, a huge seal body squirming, swooping to climb the rocks of the shoal, almost its entire body exposed to the water, but because of the rapid flow, it was washed back into the water, a cute look. In the video, five or six meters away from it, a photography enthusiast holds up a camera to take a picture, and it seems that it is not too afraid of people.
According to Liaozhong Animal Protection volunteers, they learned locally that many residents have seen seals in the Puhe River, some residents said they had seen 1 seal, and some residents said they had seen 2 seals.
The Liaozhong District Net Clearance Operation protects seal life
In order to enable spotted seals to safely inhabit this section of the river, various forces in central Liaoning province began a network clearing operation in the lower reaches of the Pu River on June 11. Under the guidance of the relevant person in charge of the Wildlife Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources of Liaoning Province, the operation was coordinated by Li Zhen, deputy director of the Liaozhong Branch of the Shenyang Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources, Long Tianyu, chief of the Wildlife Protection Section, Xing Dapeng, chief of the Public Security Forest Brigade of the Liaozhong Branch of the Shenyang Municipal Public Security Bureau, Zhang Changhe, director of the Liufang Town Police Station, and two policemen, Zhao Pei, director of the Agricultural Technology Extension and Law Enforcement Center, Guo Jichuan, president of the Liaozhong Branch of the Shenyang Wildlife Conservation Association, Liu Peng, vice president, and members attended. Carry out special clean-up of illegal fishing nets placed along the pu river along the gate.
The Wildlife Conservation Branch of Liaozhong District mobilized nearly 20 people to participate in the activity, and coordinated 2 rubber boats, 2 trucks, 3 electric tricycles, 1 off-road vehicle, 1 trailer, 1 pickup truck, 4 life jackets, 2 fork pants, thick ropes, flying grabs, hook guns and other net clearing tools. After hard work, a total of 27 cage nets were cleaned up and 12 pieces of hanging nets were hung.
It has sought rescue solutions from Dalian, Panjin and Fushun
On June 15, the person in charge of the Fisheries and Fisheries Administration Department of the Shenyang Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs told reporters that they had received a report of spotted seals in the waters of the Pu River in Liaozhong District on June 10, and had sent the Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Section of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Liaozhong District to the scene to strengthen patrols and carry out animal protection propaganda. They had received reports of seals found in the Liaohe River in Liaoyang a few years earlier. At the same time, the relevant departments and animal protection volunteers in Liaoning have also contacted the relevant departments of Dalian and Panjin, where the flower-spotted seal breeding sites, and also asked for help from fushun Royal Polar Ocean World to seek relevant methods for capturing seals, in order to prepare to capture and rescue them after discovering the seal's tracks, and find a way to release them back to the sea.
According to the analysis of Liaozhong Animal Protection volunteers, around June 11, the Puhe River section where the seals are located is in the upper reaches of the release of water, and after June 11, no seals have been found in the local area, and the relevant local departments and volunteers in Liaoning are monitoring the whereabouts of the seals at all times, and the possibility of seals being washed into the downstream HunHe River is not ruled out.
Dalian and Panjin duomi Should have left the Bohai Sea at this time
Spotted seal is a winter-borne, ice-littered cold-water marine mammal, spotted seal distribution range is small, located in Dalian Liaodong Bay Liaoning Spotted Seal National Nature Reserve is a breeding area for spotted seals in the southernmost tip of the western Pacific Ocean, and is also the only breeding area in China's seas. The world is mainly distributed in the northwest Pacific Ocean Chukotka Sea, Bering Sea, Okhotsk Sea, Japan Sea and China's Bohai Sea, northern Yellow Sea, mainly fish, crustaceans and cephalopods as food. Spotted seals are breeding migratory animals and are the only pinnipeds that can breed in waters off China. In March, after the ice melts, some adult individuals will even enter rivers such as the Shuangtaizi River (that is, the mouth of the Liaohe River) through the estuary, often resting and moulting on the mudflats on the banks of the river and on the secluded island reef beaches. It was not until May that they gradually left the reserve and wandered out of the Bohai Sea into the northern Yellow Sea and the western part of the Korean Peninsula.
It could have been from the top stream, or it could have been illegally bred
Wang Weiyan, head of the Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center, told reporters that in the newly adjusted "List of Wild Animals under National Key Protection" in February this year, the spotted seal was promoted from a national second-level protected wild animal to a national first-level protected wild animal. Spotted seals at this time and place are extremely rare, one possibility is that it swam by mistake from the top stream of the Liaodong Sea, and another may be because it has just risen to the national level of protection, and may have been raised by illegal breeders, who feared punishment and abandoned it in the Shenyang River. Zhou Haixiang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese and Biosphere and an expert on animal protection in Shenyang, believes that in the video taken by netizens in Liaoning, the spotted seal is only five or six meters away from people, but it is not afraid of people, and still tries to climb the shoals that are very close to people, as if they have been artificially raised, because wild animals are generally very afraid of people.
Shenyang release, Shen Bao all-media reporter: Xu Weiwei
Editor: Ren Zijian Editor-in-charge: Yan Jiwei Gao Wei