In the last three years killer whales have been captured from the Russian Far East Okhotsk Sea with at least nine going to China and three to a new aquarium in Moscow. But here’s a good news story.

Two days ago, four killer whales were trapped in the ice off Southeast Sakhalin Island, not far from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the Okhotsk Sea. Yesterday, three of the whales were freed and were able to swim away, and the ice field was still wide at that time. There is a good chance that they have survived. That left a big male, who in the videos (see link below) looks to be a mammal-eating killer whale. He couldn’t move at all. (Apparently, there may have been a fifth whale trapped some 40 kms from the village, too far away to attempt a rescue. There is no further news on this fifth whale. So it may have been five not four trapped killer whales in total.)

Yesterday as the tide was going out, local people worked hard to keep the big male alive. He was exhausted and getting very weak. At one point in the video you can see that he rolls on his side. People, entering the water, managed to right him, and then he spouted. Eventually the sea began rising and, in the night, some of the ice cleared. People stayed with the big male and began to clear the remaining ice to create a corridor. After the waters reached about 2 m deep, the male still wouldn’t move, so the local people tried to guide him. Eventually in the night he did start moving and swam off to the open sea, hopefully to recover.

The Russian TV news RT ran various news clips showing the workers and volunteers freeing the whales from what would have been certain death. You can see a summary of their report in English here: https://www.rt.com/news/340308-killer-whales-rescue-sakhalin/ And there is a story with more video and good photos from Roman Grishanov here: http://skr.su/news/258348

So who is this remarkable instant Russian rescue team coming to the aid of wild orcas? It seems that it included a wide range of people. The Ministry of Emergency Situation sent a team who were allowed to conduct what were surely risky operations. The local collective fishing plant (kolhoz) was there, plus a local vet, divers, and volunteers from the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk community including the youth eco-education and tourism Club Bumerang, with the head Vyacheslav Kozlov. Coordinating all this effort was the marine mammal coordinator from Sakhalin Energy, Peter Van Der Wolf who contacted scientists and other specialists. Without all these people working together, the operation might not have been successful.

Bravo and huge thanks to the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk community for helping to save these orcas!!

                                                                                            — © Erich Hoyt 2016