He said 30,000 birds have died since December 2024 following an oil spill caused by two Russian tankers in the Black Sea’s Kerch Strait.
Rusev also blamed Russian drones for spooking flamingos, forcing them to abandon their nests and giving gulls the opportunity to decimate last year’s colony.
“Drones, they stay (for) one or two minutes but during this period, very aggressive gulls, like yellow-legged gulls, come to this colony and destroy all the nests,” he said. “400 nests were destroyed fully by these gulls.”
Rusev added that while drones and missiles pose a threat from the air, mines and sonar are harming sea life.
The scientist said it is stressful to work when there is ongoing bombing.
“We saw so many dolphins, dead dolphins on the shoreline,” said Rusev, adding that dolphin carcasses have become an increasingly common sight along the Black Sea coast.
Researchers estimate that at least 80,000 dolphins in the Black Sea have died as a direct result of the war.
The death of such marine life is just one example of what park researchers call environmental war crimes committed by Moscow.
