More than 60 protected seal pups stolen by suspected animal traffickers to sell to aquariums have been rescued and released into the wild in eastern China.
These baby spotted seals were found starving and dying on a farm in the city of Dalian in February, all less than two weeks old then.
Authorities put the pups under the care of three government-approved organisations before sending them back to nature in two batches: 24 on April 11 and 37 on May 10.
A baby spotted seal splashes in water after being released to the wild last Friday in China
Caged seals wait to be released on Huping Island in Dalian after being nursed back to health
Pups glide down a slide from their cages into the water in eastern China with the help of carers
Spotted seals live in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean and can be found along the north-eastern cost of China, particularly on the Liaodong Peninsula near the Yellow Sea. The species gets its name from its coat pattern.
They are a second-class protected animal species in China - along with heavily trafficked pangolins and Asian black bears. Hunting, farming or trading of spotted seals without permission is prohibited by China's Wildlife Protection Law.
Despite legal protection, spotted seals are one of the most hunted wild animals in China due to their waterproof skin and highly desirable genitalia - a traditional answer to 'Viagra'.
The pups were rescued in Hutou in February before being released to nearby Bohai Sea
'Their weight has reached 30 kilograms,' said one of their carers from a Dalian ocean park
Experts have put a GPS chip on one of the pups, hoping to track the movements of the pod
According to Dalian police, a gang of 12 suspects, said to be local fishermen from the county-level city of Wafangdian, had illegally caught a total of 100 pups in the wild.
Among them, 29 seals had died 'from shock' before the police arrived and 10 more died after being found because of weak health, reported China's state broadcaster CCTV.
Dalian police saved the pups from a small geese farm in the village of Hutou in Wafangdian on February 11.
The pups had been under the care of three government-approved organisations in Dalian
Dalian police have caught 10 suspects in relation to the case and formally arrested five of them
Upon discovery, all pups - each weighing eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) or so - were struggling on the brink of death.
They were still sporting their fur, cramped into a tiny room and wailing desperately.
Workers on the farm simply gave them large chunks of fish, which the pups would not be able to eat, a local official said in a previous interview.
Authorities took them to two ocean parks and an institute of marine and aquatic sciences to be looked after.
The dying spotted seal pups are seen lying on the ground of a breeding farm
