NALCHIK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th July, 2019) The five remaining orcas from the notorious "whale jail" in Russia's Far East will be released into the wild by the end of summer, Russian Environment Minister Dmitry Kobylkin said on Saturday.
"I would very much want them to be released already yesterday. But unfortunately, it is a very complicated process. A road map has been coordinated at the government level. We have to complete this work without haste, and complete it within summertime. We have everything for it, we are on time," Kobylkin told journalists.
He has stressed that the Primary focus is to keep all orcas alive before they return into natural habitat.
In October 2018, the so-called whale jail in Russia's Srednyaya Bay made headlines after Greenpeace claimed that a batch of endangered whale species, held there in captivity, were being prepared to be smuggled to China. A probe was opened into illegal fishing of aquatic animals and animal abuse. The investigation found a group of more than 100 orcas and belugas trapped in a sea enclosure in deplorable conditions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered relevant agencies to lead the case. A local court ruled that the sea mammals had been caught illegally. The companies responsible for the violation were reportedly fined a total of 150 million rubles ($2.4 million).
Since June, several batches of the trapped orcas and belugas have already been released. They were equipped with trackers that would enable scientists to trace their movement and collect data on their behavior.
