Date: Thu, 25 Jan, 1996
BABY MONK SEAL RELEASED

NOUAKCHOTT, Jan 25 (Reuter) - A baby monk seal, one of the world's most endangered species, has recovered from her injuries after treatment in Mauritania and been returned to the sea, the Mauritanian state news agency said on Thursday. Some 150 monk seals, about half the world's total, live off Mauritania, Western Sahara and Morocco.

The monk seal was rescued near the northern port of Nouadhibou last October. Named Aziza by a researcher, she had apparently lost her parents in a storm and was lightly injured and suffering from malnutrition and breathing problems. Aziza was cared for at Mauritania's national oceanographic and fisheries research centre in Nouadhibou with the help of the Dutch Pieterburen dolphin research institute. After nearly four months of treatment, her weight had risen to 50 kg (110 pounds) from 31 kg (68 pounds).

Monk seals, so called because folds of skin around their necks recall monastic dress, are among the last members of the seal family living in temperate waters in the northern hemisphere. They are under threat from viral infections, from pollution and fishing which deplete their feeding grounds, and fishermen who kill them because they damage nets and eat fish.



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