Mystery surrounds the discovery of dead animals on Bulgarian beaches

There’s a troubling trend on Bulgarian beaches – as dead animals are washing up on the shores of the Black Sea.

The carcasses of three cows have been found in different locations over the past six days.

“There was a dead animal on the shore, it was picked up by the municipality – the Ecology Department, we have handed it over to the incineration plant. So there was no problem,” explained Rosen Despov, the Mayor of the Black Sea coastal town, Chernomorets.

Authorities are unsure why this is happening, but some suspect it may be linked to the ecological fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Bulgaria’s food safety agency said that the washed-up animals did not have an ear tag and, therefore, do not fall under its responsibility. The Maritime Administration, on the other hand, clarified that there is no record of a ship carrying animals having crashed at this time.

The coasts will soon be cleaned up and teams from the local administration will undertake inspections.

“The beach is going to be disinfected and hopefully this will be the last animal that washes up on our shores,” Zornitsa Dimitrova from Sozopol Municipality’s Department of Ecology told Euronews.

As it stands, environmental authorities have no data on pollution levels related to last week’s destruction of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam.

But crews from ships at sea say they are on the lookout for animals in the water and have vowed to report any information to the relevant authorities.