Some great news coming from Russia: Russian conservationists organized a massive turn-out of more than 100,000 petition signers, asking the Russian government to end captures of orcas, beluga whales and dolphins (essentially, any cetaceans) in Russian waters for captivity.
Our Russian friends emphasize that the petition effort was a national effort. The entire petition-signing campaign involved many grassroots organizations and hundreds of scientists, activists, Russian bloggers and Russian “celebrities” (people of some repute in that nation) — each of whom worked constantly to encourage their own circles of friends and followers to sign the petition.
Under tight deadlines, the Russians obtained enough signatures to require the Russian government to take action. The petition site is on a government website, set up to accept citizen petitions to create new laws.
Only open to Russian citizens, the petition aimed to eliminate wording in Russian law that allows captures of live cetaceans for the purposes of “science” or “education.” These phrases led to last year’s tragedy of the Russian “Whale Jail”, wherein 97 beluga whales and 10 orcas were held in small pens to be shipped to aquariums in China. Local Russian activists went to court, which ruled that the environmental assessment was inadequate and that the permits should never have been issued.
Subsequently, helped by the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute and other international organizations, scientists and celebrities, the Russian conservationists convinced the Putin government to order the release of the Whale Jail whales back where they were originally captured. The final release of fifty beluga whales occurred on November 10th, short of the home waters of the Sea of Okhotsk due to ice conditions.
Russia is the only country that allows captures of popular orcas and beluga whales for captivity. Under provisions of this formal petition, the Russian government is now required to advance the legislation, which aims to end the captures of cetaceans for captivity in Russian waters. A ban on such captures would eliminate that aspect of international trade in captive cetaceans as well.
Our deepest thanks to all the Russian volunteers and activists who fought so hard to empty the Whale Jail and have now taken a major step to prevent future captures. They are making history, and showing how a small band of activists can unite to take on global industries that threaten marine mammals around the world.
Well done!
