{"id":3020,"date":"2019-01-27T05:08:22","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T02:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/?p=3020"},"modified":"2026-03-29T19:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T16:01:38","slug":"fears-killer-whales-held-captive-in-russia-will-freeze-to-death-as-winter-seas-ice-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/fears-killer-whales-held-captive-in-russia-will-freeze-to-death-as-winter-seas-ice-over\/","title":{"rendered":"FEARS  KILLER WHALES HELD CAPTIVE IN RUSSIA WILL FREEZE TO DEATH AS WINTER SEAS ICE OVER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Activists appealing to\u00a0Vladmir Putin for orcas&#8217; freedom warn that many have developed frostbite <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"blob:http:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/338b84f8-a26c-408d-af31-b7847a0f53fd\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/killer-whales-orcas-belugas-captive-russia-china-okhotsk-vladivostok-a8748066.html\">https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/killer-whales-orcas-belugas-captive-russia-china-okhotsk-vladivostok-a8748066.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A group of killer&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/Whales\">whales<\/a>&nbsp;held captive in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/Russia\">Russia<\/a>\u2019s remote far East are at risk of freezing to death as their pens ice over in mid-winter temperatures, campaigners say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Volunteer monitors have warned that the 11&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/orcas\">orcas<\/a>&nbsp;and 87 beluga whales, captured last year for sale to China, may start dying after many reportedly developed frostbite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The marine mammals were taken last summer from the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan, to be sold to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/dolphin-hunting-japan-baby-dolphins-hunt-fishing-taiji-sea-shepherd-cove-guardians-a8585356.html\">dolphinariums<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have since been confined to pens at a \u201cwhale jail\u201d near Nakhodka city near Vladivostok, which the monitors say are cruel because they are a fraction of the size of natural ocean habitats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But now it\u2019s believed ice poses a new threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In winter, orcas \u2013 warm-blooded killer whales \u2013 naturally migrate to warmer seas and spend most of their time underwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If their dorsal fin, which regulates their temperature, freezes, they become susceptible to extreme weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Activists from the group&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/the-issue\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Free Russian Whales<\/a>, who are lobbying Vladimir Putin for the animals\u2019 release, say they have seen one orca whose fin is \u201cpeeling off in large, flapping chunks\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/freerussianwhales\/posts\/2185989164794235\" target=\"_blank\">The group said<\/a>: \u201cKirill and other orcas have developed frostbite. If something to keep the warm temperature in the enclosures is not done soon, animals most likely will start dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe is completely inactive, looks sick and floating motionless for long periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe often comes into contact with the icy sludge, possibly causing hypothermia with more pronounced damage to the skin\u2026 His breathing is very slow and \u2018gentle\u2019, which can be a sign of pneumonia or other diseases of his internal organs.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other orcas have skin lesions that it\u2019s believed could be due to fungal diseases.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Staff at the \u201ccentre\u201d have been seen trying to break up the ice daily, which it\u2019s claimed causes the orcas and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/belugas\">belugas<\/a>&nbsp;severe stress.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEvery day a lot of \u2018centre\u2019 staff pass by, dragging their various equipment, ice-cleaning tools and heavy wheelbarrows with fish, likely causing more anxiety and stress for the killer whales,\u201d the activists warn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One orca has disappeared since the summer. The captors say they released it because it was behaving aggressively but experts fear it died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three baby belugas also disappeared, captors claiming they escaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/international-whaling-commission\">International Whaling Commission<\/a>\u00a0banned commercial whaling in 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Volunteer Oxana Fedorova said: \u201cOrcas and other cetaceans are like us &#8211;&nbsp;social and highly intelligent, and we have no right to imprison them for entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Free Russian Whales, which has been fighting their capture for years, celebrated when, last year, prosecutors said they would investigate illegal sales to China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the past five years, 15 orcas and more than 200 belugas have been illegally captured and sold to Chinese aquariums, according to the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the UK, opponents of Japan\u2019s decision to resume whaling staged a protest outside the country\u2019s embassy in London, calling for it to reverse its move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Activists appealing to\u00a0Vladmir Putin for orcas&#8217; freedom warn that many have developed frostbite Source: https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/killer-whales-orcas-belugas-captive-russia-china-okhotsk-vladivostok-a8748066.html A group of killer&nbsp;whales&nbsp;held captive in&nbsp;Russia\u2019s remote far East are at<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-1","post_format-post-format-aside"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3020"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3021,"href":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3020\/revisions\/3021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerussianwhales.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}