Russians Agree to Release Whales

Belugas protest their captivity, credit: Ocean Futures Society

Russian officials have agreed to release whales from cramped sea pens that amount to a gulag for whales.  Eighty-seven beluga whales [photo] and ten orcas are incarcerated at Nakhodka, Primorski for sale and distribution to aquariums in China and elsewhere in Asia. Regional Governor Oleg Kozhemyako told reporters that an agreement in principal was reached with Jean-Michel Cousteau, heir to the oceanographic legacy of his father Jacques, and the Whale Sanctuary Project to free the whales.  A joint team of Cousteau and Russian scientists will decide when and which animals to release to the wild this summer.

After all the whales are set free the "whale jail" will then be closed after months of outcry from animal rights advocates including 1.5 million signatures on a petition demanding their release.  Even Canadian born actress and model Pamela Anderson, who identifies as ethnically Russian, contacted President Putin to express her concern for the intelligent cetaceans, whose basic biological needs require they swim and dive freely, caught in an inhumane trade of marine mammals to supply exhibitors. The whales where first captured last summer by companies planning to sell them to marine parks and aquariums.  The Kremlin intervened and order local authorities to act. The FSB charged the four firms with violating fishing laws; whales can be legally captured in Russia but only for scientific and education purposes in specific circumstances.

Mr. Cousteau blogged about the whales' plight, noting that humans have reached an evolutionary stage wherein our species recognizes that cetaceans are "are far too intelligent, sophisticated, and socially and behaviorally complex to be kept in concrete prisons”.  He wrote that cetaceans primarily use their sense of sound to understand their surroundings and this sense is severely curtailed in man-made concrete pens or tanks.  Prolonged sensory deprivation can cause mental distress and even illness.  A captive male orca, Tillikum, drowned his trainer at Sea World in 2010. {07.01.17} This tragically belated realization is responsible for Sea World agreeing to end its display of orcas performing for crowds of squealing kids and immature adults. {18.03.16}