Famous and beloved actor Leonardo DiCaprio, an Oscar winner, published on his Facebook and Twitter pages an appeal to sign the petition and support him in his attempt to stop the inhumane capture of orcas and beluga whales in Russia.

12 orcas and 90 beluga whales were illegally captured in 2018 in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and are now held in the “whale jail” in Srednyaya Bay in Primorye, Russia. Two orcas and three belugas have already disappeared without a trace, although according to the captors one killer whale was released due to aggressive behavior, while the rest of the animals “escaped” from the enclosures. But it’s more likely that the animals died.

Within just 4 hours after Leo’s posted on social media more than 14 thousand people “liked” it and almost 5 thousand reposted / retweeted, the number of signatures on a petition on change.org/whalejail that’s calls for return of animals to their natural habitat began to grow rapidly and is already approaching 900 000.

Leonardo DiCaprio is known for his actions to preserve wildlife. In 2016, at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), he received the Crystal Award for his contribution to environmental protection. Back in 1998, he created the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and allocated more than $ 30 million for the development of 70 innovative projects in 40 countries in the field of environmental protection, marine fauna and animal species threatened with extinction. Since 2014, Leo has been the UN ambassador for climate change. In 2016, he made the film “Before the Flood”, telling about climate change, the global extinction of species and how people can try to prevent the death of endangered species, ecosystems and natural communities of the planet.

In 2015, the Russian organization Sakhalin Environment Watch also became a recipient of a grant from Leonardo DiCaprio, but was forced to return it in full amount in connection with the law “on foreign agents.”

We thank Leo for his support and hope that our country will adequately come out of this situation and release the orcas and beluga whales, and also ban such truly inhumane captures of marine mammals. The President of Russia has already given such instructions to the relevant ministries.

Leo’s post on FB: https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/posts/10155841789897116

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeoDiCaprio/status/1100442483195105280