November 24, 2019
People called me Kirill. I had a different name in my family, and only my relatives knew my real name. I had to get used to name Kirill.
It was just a normal summer day. We swam in our favorite bay, the elders planned to hunt, and the kids were eager to learn. We heard the noise of the helicopter and saw several boats approaching from different sides. We were not afraid, because we had already met people, never touched them, and sometimes even came closer to check them out.
A few hours later, my usual life ended. I remember being surrounded and dragged by nets. I remember how scary it was and my mother was screaming in horror. My grandmother tried to free me, but she got tangled in nets and started drowning. Soon I stopped hearing her voice. I remember being lifted up in the air, the terrible power squeezed my sides, and it was awfully painful and scary. I woke up in a tight box and never saw the sea again. I was very afraid to suffocate. And my mom kept calling me. That was the last time I heard her voice and her real name. Soon I became Kirill.
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I’ve been on the road for a long time. And then I found myself in another bay in a seapen, locked up in nets. The sea smelled different, everything was foreign. People used to come to us all the time. They brought other orcas and a lot of baby belugas, seals and walruses. I heard all of them screaming and shouting. We didn’t know what would happen to us.
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It was scary, crowded and cold. I didn’t like the food we were given. I shouldn’t eat dead fish, it made me sick. My muscles were getting more and more numb because I couldn’t swim normally. My skin was itching and aching. I was missing my family and wanted to go home.
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Then I got sick. I didn’t want to move, didn’t want to communicate and didn’t even want to eat. I was getting worse and worse… and nobody helped me. Maybe Mom would have helped, but she was somewhere very far away.
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There were other people once who wanted to free us. I hope they got in time to free the other prisoners. I could not wait anymore.
It is very good where I am now- the sea, the gentle sunshine and the bright rainbow. Now I don’t have any pain and I’m calm, but I couldn’t see my mother again. She must be still sad.
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Other people, the ones who didn’t have time to save me, please make sure we’re not captured anymore!
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SIGN www.roi.ru for 49427 (only for Russian citizens – petition on official Russian government website)