Dear friends,

We have news for you:

▪ The team of Jean-Michel Cousteau arrives in Moscow tomorrow with the invitation from Ministry of Natural Resources.

On April 4th Meetings are scheduled at the Ministry of Environment. On April 5th, the Cousteau team will arrive in Vladivostok, hold meetings with administration of Primorsky Region, then go to the whale jail in Srednyaya Bay 

We look forward to the arrival of the team and very much hope that the Ministry of Environment will provide experts with full access to animals to assess the conditions and develop rehabilitation plan.

▪Second news

❗ Oleg Kozhemyako, Governor of Primorsky Krai, announced that a “rehabilitation center” will be created on the basis of a whale jail ❗

To ordinary people and people who do not fully understand what is happening, this may seem like good news, but in reality it’s the other way around. “Rehabilitation center” is not needed there – it is necessary to rehabilitate and release the orcas and belugas as soon as possible, and then close this prison for good. It is not a secret to anyone that rehabilitation centers can be used by interested people (from captivity industry) as a convenient cover up – most animals in such centers are considered not suitable for release and are transferred to dolphinariums. 

In Primorye, marine mammals get in trouble from time to time and need rehabilitation – but these are mostly seals, and for them there already is a rehabilitation center “Seal” that has been successfully operating for many years!

❗❗❗Despite the instructions of the president and the loud statements of officials organizations from “Free Russian Whales” Coalition still have not been invited to the process of determining the fate of cetaceans. Our requests to include independent marine mammal experts from the coalition are simply ignored.

Please stay tuned – this week promises many events!