Dear friends,

The situation around the “whale jail” has been very interesting since Leonardo DiCaprio has supported our campaign. There are statements from local authorities, heads of federal departments and from Vladimir Putin himself.

President Putin has taken the “whale jail” under his special control. Now, several ministries are developing a road map of rehabilitation and re-adaptation of the orcas and belugas to their natural environment.

Last week Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Gordeyev announced the decision to move the orcas and belugas from the “whale jail” to some“ large marine animals keeping centre”, which is to be set up in one of the bays of Russkiy Island near Vladivostok.

And this is something very worrying for me and other activists, ecologists and the coalition “Free russian whales” that unites several NGOs.

For us it is unacceptable to move the animals from Srednyaya bay. Why? Because their relocation to Russkiy Island and then back to the places of release will cause additional unnecessary stress and suffer for orcas and beluga whales.The relocation can only worsen the situation for the captive animals. One whale jail will be simply replaced with another.

The only acceptable option is to release the animals from Srednyaya Bay into the wild, without any intermediate centers.

French ocean explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau also agreed with us. He accepted an invitation from the Russian authorities to visit the “whale jail”. He announced that he will come to Primorye to help return orcas and belugas to their natural habitat  - the ocean. “The best solution for the orcas and belugas is their release into the wild, not a life in captivity in an aquarium”, he stressed.

This is just amazing! The local authorities already announced that they will welcome Cousteau and his team and will allow him to examine the conditions of orcas and belugas. I really believe that this is another milestone for our campaign. Russian authorities admitted that they have no experience with this process, so I hope, that they will he happy to get assistance from the the scientist and his team.

Dear friends, I want to thank you so much for your support! It’s been very busy and crazy time for me and my colleagues, but I need to tell you that I am amazed by your support and strength of our voice. Together we gathered more over 1 million signatures and spread the awareness all across the world. We did something unbelievable and we won’t stop until all the animals are safe and free. Please keep sharing this petition.

Thank you,
Anastasia