Russia will open a rehabilitation center for sea mammals, including killer whales from the so-called whale jail, in one of the harbors of the Far East's Primorsky Territory to prepare them to be released back into the wild, a press service of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Gordeyev said in a statement on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th March, 2019) Russia will open a rehabilitation center for sea mammals, including killer whales from the so-called whale jail, in one of the harbors of the Far East's Primorsky Territory to prepare them to be released back into the wild, a press service of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Gordeyev said in a statement on Tuesday.Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Environment Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture, in cooperation with public and research organizations, to decide by March 1 the fate of the orcas confined in Srednyaya Bay that were due to be illegally sold to China. Russian Natural Resources and Environment Minister Dmitry Kobylkin said on Monday that a "road map" for releasing the killer whales would be developed in the near future. On Tuesday, Gordeyev held a meeting with representatives of a number of government departments and services to resolve the matter.
"The discussion resulted in the development of an action plan that envisions the readaptation of sea mammals for their future release into their natural habitat if there are no risks for their lives. In order to do this, one of the harbors of the Russky Island will be transformed into a rehabilitation center for big sea mammals," the statement said.
Gordeyev vowed to make every effort to save and protect the orcas recovered from illegal captivity.
In October, Greenpeace Russia told Sputnik that 13 killer whales were about to be sold illegally to China. At least 11 of them have been held in cramped enclosures in Primorsky Territory's Srednyaya Bay, which environmentalists have come to call a whale jail. As many as 90 white whales, also caught illegally, are reportedly being held there as well.
Russian prosecutors have opened an investigation into illegal fishing and animal abuse, while a court imposed provisional measures to prevent the animals from being taken from the bay. The ban was later revoked, however. It has recently been reported that three white whales and an orca have gone missing.
