Lithuania bids to save Baltic seals as ice sheets recede

The seals have been nurtured at a rehabilitation centre in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda. Survival rates for cubs in the wild can be as low as five percent, according to local scientists. The Baltic Sea, which is shared by the European Union and Russia, rarely freezes over now, depriving seals of sanctuaries to rear their cubs. "Mothers are forced to breed on land in high concentration with other seals," said Vaida Surviliene, a scientist at Vilnius University. "They are unable to recognise...