In Primorye, after an inspection by the prosecutor’s office, the “whale prison” was dismantled

In Srednyaya Bay in Primorye, after an inspection by the prosecutor’s office, the “whale prison” was dismantled - enclosures in which 11 killer whales and 90 beluga whales were kept in 2018 and 2019. This is stated in the message of the Amur Basin Environmental Prosecutor's Office.

The Vladivostok interdistrict environmental prosecutor issued a warning to the Lakkolit company, which used the bay water area for parking and servicing ships after the lease agreements for the territory were terminated in the fall of 2020.

The floating enclosures were dismantled and transported to the territory of the Livadia ship repair plant “in a condition that precludes the possibility of their further use for their intended purpose.” The new owner plans to recycle the structures and use them to repair ships, the department explained.

Russian Greenpeace expert Hovhannes Targulyan told Taki Dela that this decision by the prosecutor’s office can be called progress in the fight against “whale prisons.” But without a legislative ban on catching cetaceans for educational, cultural and educational purposes, which is still under consideration by the State Duma, the emergence of a new “prison” is only a matter of time and money.

“The “whale prison” may appear again, including in a new place,” Targulyan emphasized.

At the end of October 2021, an activist from the Russian branch of Greenpeace flew in the skies over the “whale prison” to draw attention to the problems of catching cetaceans and selling them to aquariums. The paraglider made several circles over the enclosures for the caught animals, and then unfurled a banner depicting a killer whale trying to throw off its shackles.

A bill banning the fishing of marine mammals for cultural and educational purposes was submitted to the State Duma in the spring of 2021, but there is still no movement to consider the document.

About how people united to save killer whales and beluga whales from the “whale prison” and why their struggle is not over yet, “Such Things” was told on the second anniversary of the rescue of sea animals from enclosures.