A detailed plan for the release and adaptation of killer whales and Beluga whales in the Srednyaya Bay in Primorsky Krai will be developed in the near future. On Monday, March 4, said the head of the Ministry of natural resources Dmitry Kobylkin, reports TASS.
According to him, the plan should take into account all risks of release of animals and their age differences. "When we gathered the meeting, it was attended by experts from science, they told us clearly that the release needs a whole road map," - said the official.
The Minister added that the fact that the animals should be released, there is no doubt. Kobylkin said that all the necessary information from his Department has been prepared, and the decision depends on the power structures and Rosrybolovstva."[https://lenta.ru/news/2019/03/04/kosatki/?utm_source=yxnews&utm_medium=desktop]
At the same time Peskov stressed that the intervention of the President is due not only to the public response of the scandal with killer whales, but also the fact that Putin is the head of the Board of Trustees of the Russian geographical society.
"He personally is the curator of the whole direction of the RGS in terms of animal protection, including the protection of such subspecies. He has repeatedly participated in the relevant programs", - said the representative of the Kremlin." [https://www.gazeta.ru/social/2019/03/04/12222775.shtml?utm_source=yxnews&utm_medium=desktop]
... With the release of killer whales and Beluga whales can not be delayed, because the water, which will warm up with the onset of summer, can kill animals. "There is a possibility that the animals will catch new diseases - and infectious, and skin," - said RIA Novosti chief researcher of the laboratory of marine ecotoxicology of the Pacific ocean Institute named after V. I. Ilyichev Feb RAS Vladimir Rakov."
Vera Krasnova, a researcher at the laboratory of marine mammals Of the Institute of Oceanology of RAS, told the Moscow 24 TV channel that damage to the skin of mammals is noticeable even in the pictures." [https://www.m24.ru/news/proisshestviya/04032019/68022?utm_source=yxnews&utm_medium=desktop]
The comment.
It is clear that this situation is only one of the episodes in a long chain of contradictory interaction of environmental and social interests, on the one hand, and selfish mercenary interests, on the other.
Therefore, to talk endlessly about whether there is a risk to animals in the event of their release, what is the degree of this risk - it is speculative reasoning, reminiscent of the discussion of medieval scholastics.
Such discussions are good for training intelligence, but not for specific effective practical actions.
The first thing that needs to be made - IMMEDIATELY PUBLICLY to release several animals.
(To gather journalists, to remove barriers and to give animals the opportunity to return to the natural environment. There are no obstacles to make it today, 5 March 2019).
Thus, it is symbolic to show that self-serving interests are relegated to the background, that environmental and social interests are put at the forefront.
If it is impossible to release all animals at once, what would be more preferable, then to establish a time point for release of animals to the habitat irrespective of their state.
Otherwise, the concerned public will be held hostage by a kind of an information conjurers. Periodically, people will come to the fore who will explain with an authoritative look that animals can not be released for such and such reasons. This whole thing will go on forever.
As a result, the situation will turn into endless delays.
Even in the case of the death of a significant percentage of animals during their release (such a prospect can neither be confirmed nor disproved with full certainty), the action for the release of animals will make sense, it will be useful, as it will become a symbolic barrier for the subsequent capture of animals.
As a result, the release of animals regardless of their health and the degree of risk to their lives will be useful for conservation, for the protection of animals (as for a large-scale social process).
It would be possible to agree with gradual rehabilitation (a part) of animals in case of implementation of similar actions in the conditions of open humane society.
More realistic for the current situation is the prospect of showing information tricks with the preservation of the practice of catching and causing increasing harm to marine fauna.
So: the open, the immediate public release of all (whenever possible) animals.
If there is a recognized need to rehabilitate part of the animals (which means a delay with the release of part of the animals) - the establishment of deadlines for their release (regardless of their health and risks to their lives).
March 5, 2019 14: 22
Translation from Russian into English: March 5, 2019 14:52.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский "Рассказ об интересе к Новой Земле и к белым медведям днём 5 марта 2019 г.".