Poaching

Listed as a Level 2 protected national rare species in China, spotted seals are mainly seen along the Bohai Strait in the provinces of Hebei and Liaoning in the north and Shandong in the east. The mammal is Liaoning's mascot.

They usually cross the Bohai Strait in November to give birth in Liaodong Bay in January, and generally remain in the area until May.

In February, police in Dalian dealt with a case in which 100 spotted seal pups had been poached. However, by the time police intervened, 29 of the pups had died, and a further 10 died in the weeks that followed, despite intensive care from a rescue team.

By Friday, all 61 survivors had been released back into the ocean.

Officers believe the culprits were fishermen from Changxing Island in Liaodong Bay. Ten suspected poachers have been detained, but two others remain at large. Police said the fishermen started sneaking into the breeding zone in the north of the bay in January.

Lu said: "Winter is the coldest time of the year, when the sea ice is at its thickest. That's usually when the spotted seals give birth to their pups on the ice."

He added that the seals prefer to stay far away from humans, choosing to give birth on ice floes in the middle of the bay. Ironically, though, that provides convenient cover for poachers.

In global terms, spotted seals are not rare. It is thought that more than 300,000 are scattered throughout the habitats and waters of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere.

In 1993, there were an estimated 4,500 spotted seals in Liaodong Bay, but it is thought that the number has fallen to fewer than 2,000 in recent years as a result of the rise in poaching.