Moscow: Whales were massaged and lathered in special balm as they rode toward the ocean in a motorcade as part of their release from a “jail” in the Russian far east, the institute overseeing the operation said Thursday.
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Two killer whales and six beluga whales were freed last week after months of captivity and a public backlash that eventually saw President Vladimir Putin endorse their release.
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The animals have been held in cramped enclosures since last summer by commercial firms that planned to deliver them to aquariums, including in China where the industry is booming.
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A further 87 are currently still in the facility nicknamed “whale jail”.
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“The hardest thing in the release was that nobody has done this before,” said the director of the All-Russian Fisheries and Oceanography Institute (VNIRO), Kirill Kolonchin.
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“From the point of view of science, this is a fantastic experience” that will provide information about how the animals behave following an extended period in captivity, he added.
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The whales were driven on trucks for 760 kilometres (475 miles) to the river port Khabarovsk before being loaded onto boats for the second leg of the trip.
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“To smooth out the road journey, we asked traffic police to help and accompany us with flashing lights to prevent stops,” Kolonchin said.
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“We really worried about killer whales being injured, so two people rode in each tank around the clock, holding the animals to make sure they don’t inhale water,” he said.
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“Special creams were developed to prevent their skin from being damaged, water was changed, we had sea salt and ice that was added to the water,” he said.
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Before their release into the ocean, “veterinarians and coaches massaged the killer whales, rubbing their tails and flippers for four to six hours,” Vyacheslav Bizikov, deputy director of VNIRO, said.
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Brother, sister bond
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The two killer whales were brother and sister who had formed an attachment, and were communicating during the trip, he said.
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“Now they are already over 400 kilometres from the release site,” he said. Their satellite trackers indicate that “they are searching” for something – perhaps their families.
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Bizikov said three to four more killer whales would start their journey to freedom next week.
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Many scientists and activists criticised VNIRO for keeping the details of the release secret, not taking any observers on the trip and only freeing a small group of animals rather than all of them together, which would boost their survival odds.
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Kolonchin said the institute settled on a solution that delivered the animals to the right location while being affordable, because nobody offered any help.
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“We could not release all animals together – we don’t have the funds,” Bizikov said.
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The institute took advice from foreign experts like ocean conservationist Jean-Michel Cousteau, but it had to be “adapted to our Russian reality”, he added.
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