Dear friends,

I have amazing news! Last Friday, I had the great honour of meeting Jean-Michel Cousteau and his team in Vladivostok. I want to pass their gratitude for your participation in the “whale jail” campaign. All the team members stressed that we are doing amazing job and have already achieved a lot. They were truly moved that nearly 1,5M people from around the world signed the petition and stood up for orcas and belugas. I was touched that well known marine experts and scientists appreciated our campaign so much. So, once again, from me personally and from the Cousteau team, thank you so much friends!

In addition to warm memories, I also have great news for the whales. Yesterday, the governor of the Primorsky region Oleg Kozhemyako and the Cousteau team signed the joint statement and made a decision to release ALL the animals into the wild.

“Our goal is to release all animals. Both Russian and international scientists from the Cousteau team will continue to evaluate animals in order to determine when and how to release them,” the statement declared.

A memorandum of mutual understanding was also signed yesterday between VNIRO (as a representative of the Russian council of scientists and working groups) and the Cousteau team, which declares the unification of efforts and the cooperation and coordination of actions for the release of the animals.

This is a big step towards releasing the orcas and beluga whales back into the wild!

We are very grateful to the Cousteau team, who came to Russia from afar and have been working intensively all these days in the “whale jail” to assess the condition of animals and justify their release.

We really hope that the whales will soon be free.

Thank you,
Anastasia