Posts by Danny Groves
Huge success for WDC campaign as Virgin Holidays ends SeaWorld trips
Virgin Holidays has announced that it is to stop selling tickets to SeaWorld as part of a move to cut links with facilities that hold whales and dolphins in captivity for entertainment. The announcement represents a huge success for WDC’s ongoing campaign to stop tour operators promoting and supporting the captivity industry, a campaign that…
Read MoreCanada ends whale and dolphin captivity
The Canadian government has officially passed Bill S-203, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act. From this point it an offence in Canada to keep captive, breed, import, or export any whale, dolphin, or porpoise. However, there are exemptions for whales and dolphins currently in captivity, as well as for rescue and rehabilitation efforts. There are…
Read MoreRussian company behind infamous ‘whale jail’ is fined
A Russian company behind the ‘whale jail’ housing 10 orcas and over 80 beluga whales in the east of the country has been fined 28.1 million roubles ($433,000; £430,000) according to reports. Captured last year for possible sale to Chinese captivity theme parks, the individuals are currently held in cramped sea pens in Srednyaya Bay…
Read MoreHow you fly two beluga whales home to the ocean
Ahead of the relocation of Little White and Little Grey to the world’s first open water sanctuary for belugas, we gave international media the opportunity to discover how this epic 6,000-mile journey will be delivered to plan, and speak to some of the expert team involved in making this as comfortable a journey as possible…
Read MoreBan on plastic straws in UK announced
The UK Government has announced a ban on the sale of plastic straws, plastic stemmed cotton buds and plastic stirrers. The ban will come into place in England from next April in the hope that it will help reduce the effect of plastic on the environment. Billions of plastic straws, buds and stirrers are discarded…
Read MoreNew date set for beluga move to sanctuary
Following bad weather preventing the initial operation to move two beluga whales from captivity in China to a new ocean home in Iceland, we’re pleased to confirm a new date has been set for the departure of Little Grey and Little White. Our top priority has always been Little Grey and Little White’s welfare and…
Read MoreFisherman frees escapee military whale from body harness
A Norwegian fisherman has reportedly removed a harness attached to a whale believed to have escaped from a Russian naval facility. The whale, thought to be a beluga, was spotted by Fisherman Joar Hesten off the coast of Finnmark in northern Norway. As the whale approached, Hesten put on a survival suit and jumped into…
Read MoreUpdate: Beluga move home to the ocean temporarily postponed
We can confirm the departure of two belugas, Little Grey and Little White from their current home in China to an ocean sanctuary in Iceland has had to be postponed. The temporary delay is due to the final leg of the complicated journey between the Icelandic mainland and the Island of Heimaey. Sadly, due to…
Read MoreNature may have the answer to plastic pollution
Scientists working on solutions to the growing problem of plastic pollution are now focusing attention on a potential breakthrough supplied by Mother Nature. A study by researchers at Utrecht University reveals that several species of mushrooms will break down and ‘eat’ plastic, sometimes in a matter of weeks. Some, such as the oyster mushroom, are…
Read MoreLast Japanese whale hunt for ‘research’ ends as mass slaughter for profit looms
Japanese vessels returned to port this weekend from what appears to be their last Antarctic Ocean whale hunting mission in the name of science. The fleet of five ships led by the 8,145-ton mothership Nisshin Maru left Japan for the Southern Hemisphere in November. Vessels returned to Shimonoseki port in Yamaguchi Prefecture and ports in…
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