pollution, and the adverse effects of climate change. Over the years, Lithuania has implemented several bans, including restrictions on toxic pesticide use and commercial cod fishing, aimed at strengthening the grey seal population.

The impact of climate change on the seals’ habitat is severe. The Baltic Sea, shared by the European Union and Russia, now rarely freezes over, depriving seals of safe breeding grounds. “Mothers are forced to breed on land, often in high concentrations with other seals,” said Vaida Surviliene, a scientist at Lithuania’s Vilnius University, speaking to AFP. “They are sometimes unable to recognize their cubs and may even abandon them,” she explained.

According to local scientists, the survival rate for wild seal cubs can be as low as 5 percent. Rearing cubs on land also exposes mother seals to humans, predators, aggressive males, and a higher risk of diseases, stated Arunas Grusas, a biologist at the Baltic Sea Animal Rehabilitation Centre in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda.

Grusas first started caring for seals in 1987 when he brought a pup to his office at the Klaipeda Sea Museum, which now manages a new rehabilitation centre built in 2022. “We taught them how to feed themselves and get accustomed to the water—they had to become comfortable with the sea, as many were practically dying when spat out ashore,” Grusas recalled. The earliest cubs were placed in makeshift baths set up in his office. The scientists nursed them back to health, initially with liquid formula before introducing solid food.

In the late 1980s, the seal population was near extinction—only about 4,000 to 5,000 seals remained, a significant decline from around 100,000 before World War II. Recently, more adult seals have been washing up on Lithuanian beaches. Scientists like Grusas attribute this trend to fishing nets close to shore, where seals desperate for food get entangled and often drown. (Al Jazeera / AFP)