Translated material
Primorye: Check the content of the cubs of walruses in the "whale prison"
The Ecovakhta Sakhalin Ecological Organization appealed to the Amur Basive Environmental Prosecutor's Office with a request to verify information about the illegal maintenance of walrus cubs in a “whale prison” in Primorye. The head of the organization Dmitry Lisitsyn spoke about this to the Siberia.m. website correspondent. Rosprirodnadzor will also take a check on behalf of the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Dmitry Kobylin, according to the website of the department.
The circulation states that the suppliers of killer whales and Beluh in 2018 on Chukotka in violation of the law were caught by the cubs of walruses with the age of 7-9 months and placed them in a closed metal hangar.
"The palsy of walruses that have not reached the age of two years, who should eat mother’s milk up to 2-2.5 years, have been contained in captivity in a completely closed metal hangar without access to sunlight, in tiny pools ... walruses in a metal hangar are continuously screaming," the appeal said.
SR in mobile SR on Instagram Wed FacebookAccording to Lisitsyn, the cubs of walruses were caught with the same disorders as the wands and beluga. These violations are established by the court and also apply to walruses. "We believe that the prosecutor's office has sufficient grounds to sue and release animals," Lisitsyn said.
Ecologists do not know exactly how many animals are contained in the hangar. It is known for sure that on November 17, there was definitely one wallet cub in the hangar. Lisitsyn noted that in the summer legislation came into effect, according to which walruses can only be kept in certain organizations, such as circuses, zoos and others. But the "whale prison" does not fall into this list of organizations.
Consultations with specialists were held and it turned out that no one in the world was still returning to the wild nature of the walruses. But experts believe that this is fundamentally possible due to the features of the biology of the walrus - subject to the rehabilitation program. Experts believe that such a program is of great scientific interest and should be conducted as an important scientific experiment, Lisitsyn explained.
Social activists also turned to Rosprirodnadzor about walruses. The response reported that in 2018 and 2019, three permits for catching animals aged 6 to 17 years were issued. Lisitsyn added that participation in the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources is a positive fact, but Rosprirodnadzor does not have the right to verify the content of walruses, this is not within the competence of the department.
- The "whale prison" became known in October 2018. According to Russian Greenpeace, the Kitolovs wanted to sell the wanders and belugs to the Chinese oceanariums. The cost of one killer whale in dolphinaries and oceanariums in China is from $ 1 million to $ 15 million.
- Scientists, activists, political figures and famous people from around the world advocated the release of marine mammals. The release of the first two killer whales and six Belukh from the Whale Prison took place on June 27 in the Sea of Okhotsk. The last braids were released on August 27 at Cape Perovsky in the Khabarovsk Territory. On November 10, the last beluga were released.