Seals rescued from poachers to be sent back to wild

Local authorities in Dalian, Liaoning province, said on Monday that a group of spotted seal cubs rescued from poachers will soon be released into the wild.

In response to a tip, the Dalian police found 100 seal cubs that had been poached by local fishermen in Liaodong Bay in February.

The seals were sent to three local animal protection institutions after police found them, along with 29 dead ones. Ten of the rescued seals died over the next several weeks despite intensive care from a rescue team. Only 61 of the cubs survived.

Eight suspected poachers were detained and another four remain at large, said Wang Wei, deputy chief of the Dalian Public Security Bureau, at a news conference on Monday.

On Monday morning, two of the four suspects at large, Liu Mingshu and Liu Yanhui, surrendered themselves to the police. All the suspects are local fishermen from Changxing Island, in Liaodong Bay, he added.

The release date for the cubs will be sometime between March and May, following a health assessment and training of the animals for survival in the wild, said Wang Shuaizhang, deputy director of the Dalian Natural Resources Affairs Service Center.

Spotted seals are a Level 2 protected national rare species and the mascot of Liaoning.

Han Jiabo, dean of the Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Science Research Institute, said the place for the release of the cubs will be near the spotted seals reserve.

Fishing authorities will also be in charge of organizing aquatic wildlife experts and rescue workers to assess the rescued animals, he said, adding that the project will get approval from the Fisheries and Affairs Administration Bureau under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Poached spotted seals are usually sold to aquariums and restaurants, which put the animal on display.

As aquariums mushroom across China, the demand for spotted seals is also rising. Liaodong Bay is one of eight spotted seal reproduction areas in the world. The animals usually cross the Bohai Strait in November and enter Liaodong Bay in the Bohai Sea for reproduction. They typically stay until May.

Zhang Xiaomin contributed to this story.