25 Jun 2019 19:22

Orcas, belugas taken from 'whale jail' to Khabarovsk survive transportation

KHABAROVSK. June 25 (Interfax) - Two orcas and six beluga whales transported from Primorye's 'whale jail' to the Khabarovsk Territory are alive but remain under stress, a representative of Afalina, the company that originally caught the whales, told Interfax.

"We requested information about the mammals' current condition. All the orcas and beluga whales [that left the whale jail] have now arrived. But the animals are clearly under stress after the journey," the representative said.

The mammals were taken to Cape Perovsky on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, the place where they are to be released, on June 25. Their release is being delayed due to bad weather, the representative said.

As reported earlier, during Russian President Vladimir Putin's televised Q&A session on June 20 it was announced that an operation had begun to release the orcas and beluga whales from the 'whale jail'. Two orcas and six belugas were transported by trucks to Khabarovsk, where tanks containing the animals were put onto river boats and sent to the place of their re-adaptation in the Khabarovsk Territory's Nikolayevsky District. They are due to be released into the ocean near the Shantar Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk. Eight orcas and 81 beluga whales still remain in the 'whale jail'.