A spotted seal has died of brain tumor at the Nha Trang Oceanography Institute.

The 60 kilogram animal had been partially paralyzed after a cancer in the lung spread to its brain, the institute said Saturday.

An autopsy showed a huge tumor in its lung and several smaller ones in its head.

The seal had been caught by a fisherman in the central Quang Ngai Province in 2008.

The spotted seal (Phoca largha), considered a “true seal,” inhabits the ice floes and waters of the northern Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas.

The species is moderately abundant but faces numerous threats and several major subpopulations have declined in recent years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The only seal left now at the institute is a 30-kilogram fur seal netted in a shrimp-farming lagoon in Thua Thien-Hue city Province last month.

The young animal was handed over to the institute after protracted negotiations with the fisherman who caught it.

Source: Tuoi Tre