Skip to content

Will we ever see an end to whale and dolphin captures in Russia?

Will we ever see an end to whale and dolphin captures in Russia?

The infamous whale jail on Russia’s Far East coast stands empty. Between late summer 2018 and November 2019, more than 100 wild-caught beluga whales and orcas were held in tiny, crowded pens awaiting sale to overseas aquaria. As winter set in, ice began to cover the enclosures and a worldwide effort surfaced to raise awareness…

Read More

Is a good outcome possible for the jailed whales in Russia?

It’s not often that we report good news from Russia about whales and dolphins. We have been fighting for many years to end the capture of orcas and belugas from Russian waters for the aquarium trade. The bad news continued in 2018, as dozens of whales were illegally incarcerated in holding pens in Srednyaya Bay…

Read More

More orcas captured in the Okhotsk Sea, Russia—When will it stop?

Three orcas (killer whales) have been captured in the Okhotsk Sea in the Russian Far East, according to sources at the Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP). The first one, captured in early July, was moved through Sakhalinsky Bay on July 15, 2015. Since then, two more have been captured, also thought to have been caught in…

Read More

Japanese sperm whale hunt figures ‘not credible’ says new report

A new report published by the Royal Society has suggested that historical whaling data supplied by Japan may have been inaccurate, with under-reporting of the size and number of sperm whales hunted during the 1960s. During the 1990s, it was revealed that the former Soviet Union had falsified its whaling data over the previous 30 years,…

Read More

Captive orcas held in horrific conditions

Disturbing news is coming out of Russia that two orcas, Narnia and another unnamed male, both captured from the wild in 2012 and 2013, respectively, are currently being held in cramped conditions in a makeshift rusty tank as delays to the opening of Moscow’s new VDNKh Oceanarium continue. The orcas were flown to Moscow last…

Read More