translated by Nastya Shelyakina
This
year I’ve had a chance to go on a business trip to Irkutsk. I was met
and accommodated in a hotel and then was taken to see Lake Baikal. This
sea-lake impressed me by its greatness, furious energy, but the most
impressive thing was waiting for me in the museum. I got to know seals.
Two fascinating creatures were swimming in the transparent aquarium. One
of them turned its side, which made me shudder because its side looked
as if it was cut by with an axe. The guide explained that they were
marks, left by hunters. Then the story followed that engraved into my
memory.  
 Seals
are supposed to be killed by a shot in the head. Only this way you can
have a good prey. If the bullet gets into any other part, a seal is able
to dive from ice into water even though it’s wounded to death. The seal
of Lake Baikal is extremely careful unlike other allied species. So
hunters have to shoot at seals fifty or even a hundred meters away. Even
the most experienced hunters admit that one of three hits leads to
injuries.
 Another
way to catch a seal is to use a net. As a result it dies in terrible
convulsion choking under the water. The first president of the USSR is
probably still completely unware that he involuntarily made his
contribution to seal hunting increase. His fashionable cap was made of
unusual seal fur at that time. Then this initiative of perestroika was
continued and embodied in clothes for our Olympic team. After that there
were orders from Russian rich men. According to the most conservative
estimates this shady business brings more than 20 million dollars of
annual income. Fur items made in Baikal have appeared not only in Russia
but also in the Ukraine, China and even in Italy. 
Seals
have become very wild. Once during the filming in the ice it reacted to
the click of a photo camera at 200 meter distance. Cousteau’s crew,
which came to Baikal several years ago, faced the same problem. Having
experience of filming seals all around the world, the cameramen were
amazed by extreme caution of this kind of seals.
 The
guide told me about the folder full of orders for seals for scientific
aims. Earlier the scientists took 500 licences, this year they have
already taken 800. To identify sex and age of animals and the number of
pregnant seals, people kill them and this has been already carried for
more than 40 years. To understand what is going on, I need to say that
scientists get money for returned fells. I was stricken by the humanism
of the science that looks more like business or slaughterhouse.
The
guide finished his story with such words: "I don’t believe that it’s
possible to kill seals with a clear conscience using licence today and
to protect them tomorrow. I don’t believe… You should have moral right
to protect nature properly.”
So
the main idea he said is that the  treasures of Lake Baikal can be
preserved only by people with clear conscience. It sounds grandiloquent
but it’s only because of the fact that today is the time when it’s
indecent to talk about real values.
How they saved its life
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