Beluga finally returned to Russia

The Marine Connection is able to confirm today (24 August 2006) that after over a year of correspondence with Russian and Egyptian authorities, the beluga whale named "Feel", which was initially held at Dolphinella, and then on its return to Russia was temporarily kept at Merryland Marine Park, Cairo, has now finally been returned to its place of origin in Russia.

The initial success in late 2004 of having the beluga whales confiscated from the inadequate pools at Dolphinella, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, was marred when the whales were placed with Merryland in Cairo, "temporarily". Sadly, in February 2005, while situated at Merryland, one of the beluga whales, named "Hook", died. The whales were taken to Merryland over a year ago now and since then, the Marine Connection has worked hard, corresponding with the authorities including CITES in Egypt and Russia to ensure the remaining beluga whale was removed from Merryland rather than becoming a part of the beluga whale "show".

Although the charity would have liked to have seen the whale returned in more haste after Russia were ordered to remove the whale, we are still pleased to hear that it is now back in its country of origin.

On the 24 August 2006 Prof. Dr El Fellaly, Head of CITES in Egypt, confirmed that the beluga whale was returned to Russia via a special aircraft during the week of 14 August 2006. This was further confirmed by Merryland Marine Park which stated that they had just one beluga. Russian CITES also confirmed "unofficially" that "an animal" was returned to the place the beluga whale originated.

Although the Marine Connection would have ideally liked to return this beluga whale to the wild, sadly it is "owned" by Russians who were not willing to give it up for release. However, we are pleased that the whale has been returned to its origin as it should never have been placed in the poor facilities in Egypt initially. Russia are becoming significant suppliers of whales and dolphins, especially to the Middle East, and we hope that this confiscation of the beluga whale will go some way to deterring any future imports of cetaceans into Egypt and elsewhere.

The Marine Connection would like to thank all our supporters for writing letters and supporting this campaign, your help is vital to the success of campaigns such as this.

The charity would like to thank all the people we corresponded with within the authorities and applaud CITES in Egypt and Russia for finally pushing to return the beluga whale back to its place of origin.

Please send a polite letter to Prof. Dr. El Fellaly, Head of CITES Egypt to thank him for finally returning the beluga whale to Russia. Please also respectfully request that the display, capture and trade of marine mammals in Egypt is banned.

Prof. Dr Samy El-Fellaly
Head of the Egyptian Management Authority for CITES
Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation
Minister's Office
P.O. Box 12619
Dokki, GIZA
Egypt

See the Marine Connection letter to Prof. Dr. El Fellaly here.

For the full story of the beluga whales please click here