Russian Far East's 'Whale Prison' Release of a White Whale May Have Resulted in Pregnancy
According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, on April 9, the 'Sakhalin Environmental Watch' social organization reported that eyewitnesses in the Primorye region took pictures of two whales that may have been released from the 'Whale Prison'. One of them may be pregnant.
Eight whales, possibly released from the 'Whale Prison' in Russia's Primorye, form a group © SPUTNIK / VITALY ANKOV
The organization published a video taken from a drone on its social media page. The video shows two whales swimming near the shore.
The message states,
'Two whales have been found in the Primorye region. Drone operators successfully captured this precious footage in the Usun Bay area. According to the video, the two whales are in good condition and do not appear weak. One of the whales appears large, and it is suspected that it is pregnant'
According to ecologists, whales rarely enter the waters of the Primorye region, so these two may come from the 'Whale Prison'
According to the Investigative Committee of Russia, in 2018, the 'Whale Prison' in Russia's far east held 90 humpback whales and 11 pilot whales, all of which were minors, 13 humpback whales were less than one year old. Later, three humpback whales and one pilot whale disappeared from the nets. These whales were illegally caught and were planned to be sold to China, the Russian prosecutor's office initiated criminal proceedings against those involved in 'illegal capture of aquatic biological resources'. President Putin instructed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, the Ministry of Agriculture and social and scientific organizations to decide the fate of the imprisoned whales by March 1, 2019
In June 2019, the release activities were launched. The first group of 2 pilot whales, 6 humpback whales were released into the Barents Sea on June 27th. On November 10th, the last batch of humpback whales were released into the Usun Bay in Russia's Primorye
