‘Jails’ for orcas and belugas legalized and then criminalized in Russia

Some 100 killer whales and belugas were illegally captured in the Sea of Okhotsk last year. The animals were supposed to be sold to booming ocean theme parks in China. The marine mammals have been transported to an adaptation center and kept in harsh conditions. After the intervention of the Prosecutor’s Office, criminal cases were instituted and animals seized as physical evidence. Later, the seizure was lifted – but the orcas and belugas cannot be released immediately because they won’t survive in the ocean.

“A killer whale was trapped in the ocean and sent to an amusement park. People gave him a name – Willy – and expected him to generate money...” – this is how the plot of Free Willy, a popular movie of the early 1990s, begins. In the late 2010s, some people in Russia also decided to make good money on almost one hundred marine mammals by selling them to Chinese water parks. The helpless animals are kept in an adaptation center dubbed “whale jail” and located in the Srednyaya Bay not far from Nakhodka. 

In July–September 2018, several legal entities have captured 12 orcas and 90 white whales in the Sea of Okhotsk based on permits issued to them and put the animals in cages. In fall 2018, the former Cetacean Adaptation Center (TINRO Center) of the Pacific Branch of the Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) had kept:

• 23 beluga whales and 3 orcas – Afalina Limited Liability Company;
• 22 beluga whales and 3 orcas – Okeanarium DV Limited Liability Company;
• 23 beluga whales and 3 orcas – Bely Kit (White Whale) Limited Liability Company; and
• 22 beluga whales and 3 orcas – Sochi Dolphinarium Limited Liability Company.

It became known that all the animals were intended for sale to Chinese sea aquariums and ocean theme parks. The cost of each mammal exceeds $1 million. In November 2018, the Investigations Directorate in the Primorsky Krai of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (ICR) has instituted a criminal case under Article 256 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal procurement (catching) of aquatic biological resources). The investigation established that 13 beluga whales, out of the 90, were younger than one year. Eleven Red Data Book killer whales, out of the 12, were also underyearlings. The commercial demand for cetaceans is very high.  

In September 2018, Al Jazeera published results of an inquest into the devastating cost of China's expanding ocean theme parks on the world's largest marine mammals. As part of a two-year undercover investigation, 101 East examined more than 15 marine parks and interviewed more than a dozen insiders. The result is a shocking picture of animal abuse and cruelty. Sick seals left to die in dirty water. Whales confined to tiny tanks. Freezers full of animal carcasses. Dozens of performances per week. With China home to more than 60 marine parks and at least a 36 more being built, demand for animals has never been greater. And Russia is the only country in the world officially catching cetaceans.

However, the Russian legislation prohibits to capture groups of marine mammals with underyearlings accompanied by females and females with clear signs of pregnancy. 

Therefore, the ICR has instituted a criminal case under part 3 of Article 256 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal procurement (catching) of aquatic biological resources) stipulating punishment of 2 to 5 years behind bars. 

The cruelty of the people capturing and keeping marine mammals in small cages was further exacerbated by the seizure imposed by the court – the animals became physical evidence.

The Prosecutor’s Office established that Afalina, Okeanarium DV, Bely Kit (White Whale), and Sochi Dolphinarium had never disinfected the food preparation areas and storage containers for frozen fish. Protection facilities against water pollution, clogging, silting up, and depletion are missing. The lack of movement, feeding in artificial conditions, and unusual temperature regime are slowly killing the animals. 

However, representatives of the companies trapping cetaceans claim that the complaints of animal rights activists are just intrigues of their competitors. The limited capture of sea mammals is permitted in Russia – so, other procurement companies would supersede the current ones. Aleksei Reshetovs, founder and Director of Afalina Limited Liability Company, believes that the capture of cetaceans won’t stop after the closure of the adaptation center. In addition, the captors demonstrate some humanism toward the ‘prisoners’.

“According to our legislators, animals are considered property. Representatives of the company are prohibited from approaching the killer whales and belugas. Contrary to this prohibition, our employees feed the animals and provide veterinary services to them. We are going to appeal the court decision. If our appeal is not satisfied, the company won’t be able to feed the animals. The seizure may lead to the deaths of the caged cetaceans,” – Reshetov says. 

Later, the seizure was lifted – but it turned out that three white whales and one orca have disappeared. Representatives of the adaptation center claim that they have escaped – but animals rights activists have no doubt that the mammals died from illnesses and poor maintenance conditions. 

Then harsh winter began. The animals are kept in small compartments covered by ice. The employees break it with crowbars on a daily basis; this causes enormous stress to the marine mammals. There are reports about orcas suffering from freezing injuries.

In February 2019, world celebrities joined the activists striving to save the trapped cetaceans. Actress Pamela Anderson, a member of the Advisory Board of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), asked the Russian authorities to help the orcas kept in so-called ‘whale jail’ in the Primorsky krai. Her open letter has been published on the web site of Pamela Anderson’s foundation. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio issued a tweet asking his followers to sign a petition on Change.org urging the whales to be released. 

“Please sign this petition and join me in speaking out against the inhumane capture of orcas and belugas in Russia,” – he wrote on Facebook.

Some 1.5 million people have signed the petition by now. Too bad, the authorities rarely pay attention to petitions on Change.org. 

Activists of Greenpeace Russia painted a large 3D picture on Nikitsky boulevard in Moscow showing a killer whale breaking free.

“Carnivorous (transient) orcas are listed in the Red Data Book of the Kamchatka Krai. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environments had repeatedly supported the inclusion of these orcas into the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation. Still, this does not stop the Federal Agency for Fishery – which is currently preparing to issue licenses to capture more killer whaler for new ‘whale jails,’ – zoologist Grigory Tsidulko, a member of IUCN – SSC Cetacean Specialist Group, says. 

Back in 1986, the International Whaling Commission has imposed a moratorium prohibiting the commercial procurement of orcas worldwide. But this hasn't stopped their catching. There is a ‘hole' exploited by the above-mentioned companies. Since 2002, killer whales are procured in accordance with governmental quotas – the capture is permitted "for education and research purposes". Sea aquariums and ocean theme parks allegedly are ‘educational and research institutions'. Each legal entity has stated that the sea mammals would be captured for the education and research purposes, including their adaptation, training, demonstration to the people, cultural and educational activities, and shipment to Russian and foreign zoos, circuses, dolphinariums, ocean theme parks, museums, and exhibitions. The direct sales of cetaceans are prohibited – so, the animals are leased for life.

In 2016–2017, the issuance of such quotas was suspended in Russia due to the obsolete information on the orca population. But in 2018, despite protests of environmental organizations, the Federal Agency for Fishery has again permitted private companies to catch 13 killer whales.  

Meduza.io news portal found out that, in accordance with the Order of № 455 of July 2, 2018, catching licenses were issued to Afalina, Okeanarium DV, Bely Kit (White Whale), and Sochi Dolphinarium. These companies are leasing cages of TINRO Center. Kirill Mikhailov, founder of Sochi Dolphinarium and Bely Kit (White Whale), was earlier affiliated with the two other companies as well via the Association for Coordination of Activities on the Protection and Preservation of Marine Mammals. In addition, Mikhailov is a co-owner of Belaya Sfera (White Sphere) Management Company Limited Liability Company administering water parks and dolphinariums in Russia and Egypt. Belaya Sfera has also designed Moskvarium at the All-Russia Exhibition Center,

Killer whales are captured by nets, and some animals inevitably die in the process. According to the environmentalists, at least one marine mammal dies per each orca or beluga trapped alive. Nobody can say how many killer whales are removed alive from nets and how many of them are entangled and die. The barbaric catching techniques are well-known; therefore, the companies procuring orcas steer clear of animal rights activists and volunteers. 

The Prosecutor’s Office established that this is not the first such incident and the ‘whale jail’ was created not in 2018 – but much earlier. In 2015, Lev Bocharov, then-Head of the Pacific Branch of the Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), jointly with his former first deputy Yuri Blinov and another unidentified former employee (and concurrently, the founder of a commercial organization), had arranged the illegal capture of 2 orcas and 5 belugas for subsequent sale to China. The animals were transported to the Primorsky krai and kept in the same marine mammal adaptation center in the Srednyaya Bay. The tender to capture the cetaceans was conducted after the delivery of the animals to the Primorsky krai.

In other words, the state enterprise has illegally spent 13.5 million rubles ($209.7 thousand). In March 2017, Bocharov was put under home arrest; in May, he was released on bail of 2 million rubles ($31.1 thousand). In 2016, the Chamber of Audit reported that TINRO Center has captured 10 white whales under governmental quotas and sold to China. The suspects have been charged under part 1 of Article 286 (exceeding official powers) and part 5 of Article 33 and part 1 of Article 286 (complicity in exceeding official powers). On March 3, 2019, the Prosecutor’s Office has approved the indictment and transferred it to the court. 

In late February 2019, the problem has finally escalated to the presidential level. However, the President’s instruction to deal with the ‘whale jail’ issue by March 1, has drowned in the ‘sea of bureaucracy’.

Amid the situation with the killing whales, Sergei Ivanov, Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology, and Transport, suggested to prohibit the catching of marine mammal for cultural and educational purposes. "I believe that it is necessary to amend the law and prohibit the catching of orcas for cultural and educational purposes. This refers to dolphinariums, of course," – Ivanov said. 

In late March, French researcher Jean-Michel Cousteau arrived in Russia at the invitation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation to assist in the assessment of the condition of the trapped marine mammals.

Killer whales are captured by nets, and some animals inevitably die in the process. According to the environmentalists, at least one marine mammal dies per each orca or beluga trapped alive. Nobody can say how many killer whales are removed alive from nets and how many of them are entangled and die. The barbaric catching techniques are well-known; therefore, the companies procuring orcas steer clear of animal rights activists and volunteers. The Prosecutor’s Office established that this is not the first such incident and the ‘whale jail’ was created not in 2018 – but much earlier. In 2015, Lev Bocharov, then-Head of the Pacific Branch of the Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), jointly with his former first deputy Yuri Blinov and another unidentified former employee (and concurrently, the founder of a commercial organization), had arranged the illegal capture of 2 orcas and 5 belugas for subsequent sale to China. The animals were transported to the Primorsky krai and kept in the same marine mammal adaptation center in the Srednyaya Bay. The tender to capture the cetaceans was conducted after the delivery of the animals to the Primorsky krai.

According to Oleg Kozhemyako, Governor of Primorsky Krai, a principal decision to release all the orcas and belugas kept in the ‘whale jail' in the Srednyaya Bay into the ocean has been made. This does not mean however that the animals will be released tomorrow. Researchers from the team led by the French oceanologist, jointly with Russian specialists, have to decide what individuals may be released and when. In the meantime, maintenance conditions close to the natural ones are to be created in the Srednyaya Bay to facilitate the adaptation of the marine mammals to independent life. The cetaceans have lost many vital skills in captivity; this is especially actual for young individuals. The scientists believe that they may not be released before June 2019. Experts estimate the total cost of the release operation at some 300 million rubles ($4.7 million). It is still unclear who is going to pay for the freedom of animals trapped in the ‘whale jail'.

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