Whale Aid Russia Begins Stage Two

With the help of so many of you who are supporting our Whale Aid Russia campaign, we have completed the first stage of our work on behalf of the 10 orcas and 87 beluga whales who were captured in Russian waters last July for sale to marine entertainment parks in China.

This first stage of this work included:

• engaging with the Russian government in Moscow and in Vladivostok (close to where the orcas and belugas are being held);
• bringing a team of experts from around the world to assess the condition of the whales;
• and making recommendations to the government for the return of these animals to the open ocean.

Following our report, the government concluded that the whales should not be sold to marine entertainment parks but should be returned to the ocean.

So far so good! And we have now moved to the next stage: How the rehabilitation and release of the whales will be implemented.

Once again, there are significant challenges to be met. They involve the business interests of the companies that captured the whales, the political interests of various government departments, the major funding that will be required and, most important, the interests of the whales themselves.

Earlier this week, Russian authorities announced a new plan that called for the 10 orcas to be released directly into the open ocean adjacent to their sea pens, and for this to be completed by late May/early June.

We do not support this plan and have made it clear that we could not participate in it. Yesterday, we issued a press release in which we listed the many reasons why opening the gates of the sea pens and simply letting the orcas out would be a grave mistake. Just for starters, they all need complete health assessments. Many of them need to be treated for obvious conditions like skin fungal and bacterial infections. And we want to be sure they’re not going to introduce any pathogens to other ocean wildlife.

Also, unless they’re taught the basics of how to catch their own food, they will continue to look to humans – local boaters, fishermen, etc. – for their next meal, which would not be a good situation.

And so, because of these and many other factors, we have called on the government to adopt the comprehensive plan that we presented last month after the Jean-Michel Cousteau/Whale Sanctuary Project team returned from our visit to the sea pens where the whales are being kept.

We have also emphasized that our team remains committed to providing expertise and assistance to facilitate a responsible rehab and release program, and to help mobilize the necessary international resources to implement it. (You can read the statement here.)

Your support of the Whale Aid Russia campaign has brought us to this next, critical stage. We greatly appreciate it, and we’ll keep you updated on how this next stage of the rehab and release program is developing.