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Beluga Whale Pair Move from Ukraine's Kharkiv to Spain's Valencia

TOPSHOT - This handout picture taken and released by Valencia's Oceanografic Oceanarium on June 19, 2024 shows veterinary staff members taking care of one of the two belugas on June 19, 2024. (Photo by Marc Domenech / Oceanografic Oceanarium of Valencia / AFP)
TOPSHOT - This handout picture taken and released by Valencia's Oceanografic Oceanarium on June 19, 2024 shows veterinary staff members taking care of one of the two belugas on June 19, 2024. (Photo by Marc Domenech / Oceanografic Oceanarium of Valencia / AFP)
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Beluga Whale Pair Move from Ukraine's Kharkiv to Spain's Valencia

TOPSHOT - This handout picture taken and released by Valencia's Oceanografic Oceanarium on June 19, 2024 shows veterinary staff members taking care of one of the two belugas on June 19, 2024. (Photo by Marc Domenech / Oceanografic Oceanarium of Valencia / AFP)
TOPSHOT - This handout picture taken and released by Valencia's Oceanografic Oceanarium on June 19, 2024 shows veterinary staff members taking care of one of the two belugas on June 19, 2024. (Photo by Marc Domenech / Oceanografic Oceanarium of Valencia / AFP)

Marine biologists have moved a pair of beluga whales from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv - the target of daily shelling by Russian forces - to the eastern Spanish city of Valencia, in what they described as a long and risky international rescue operation.
The animals, 15-year-old male Plombir and 14-year-old female Miranda, arrived at Valencia's famed Oceanografic complex late on Monday in a fragile state of health, according to a statement by the Spanish oceanarium.
They had endured a lengthy journey in fragile wooden crates that started with a 12-hour road trip from Kharkiv to the port city of Odesa. There, the belugas' Ukrainian keepers met with a team of veterinarians from the Oceanografic as well as the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and SeaWorld theme parks.
After a quick check-up, they resumed the trip to the border with Moldova, which they crossed with the aid of the European Union's Anti-Fraud Office. From Chisinau they boarded a five-hour flight to Valencia, Reuters reported.
The regional leader of Valencia, Carlos Mazon, said the operation was "a historic feat of animal protection on a global level".
The Oceanografic's director of zoological operations, Daniel Garcia-Parraga, said that the whales' condition had been "suboptimal to undertake this kind of journey, but if they had continued in Kharkiv, their chances of survival would have been very slim".
Kharkiv's NEMO dolphinarium was just 800 meters (2,600 feet) away from a site that was frequently shelled and the shockwaves caused severe stress on animals with such sensitive hearing.
But, Garcia-Parraga said on Wednesday, the belugas were in much better shape than vets had initially expected and were adapting well to their new home.
Plombir was already eating - which in that species is unusual right after transportation - but Miranda had yet to try her first bite, he added.
The Oceanografic is the largest aquarium in Europe and the only one that houses beluga whales.
The white-hued mammals live in chilly waters in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Males can reach a length of up to 5.5 meters and weigh up to 1.6 tons.

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South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary Plan Blocked at Int’l Meeting

A juvenile pygmy blue whale swims, following a rescue operation by members of the Department of Conservation New Zealand in Kawau Island, New Zealand, September 16, 2024. Department Of Conservation New Zealand/Handout via REUTERS
A juvenile pygmy blue whale swims, following a rescue operation by members of the Department of Conservation New Zealand in Kawau Island, New Zealand, September 16, 2024. Department Of Conservation New Zealand/Handout via REUTERS
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South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary Plan Blocked at Int’l Meeting

A juvenile pygmy blue whale swims, following a rescue operation by members of the Department of Conservation New Zealand in Kawau Island, New Zealand, September 16, 2024. Department Of Conservation New Zealand/Handout via REUTERS
A juvenile pygmy blue whale swims, following a rescue operation by members of the Department of Conservation New Zealand in Kawau Island, New Zealand, September 16, 2024. Department Of Conservation New Zealand/Handout via REUTERS

A proposal to establish a sanctuary for whales and other cetacean species in the southern Atlantic Ocean was rejected at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on Thursday, disappointing animal conservationists, Reuters reported.
At the IWC's annual session in Lima, Peru, 40 countries backed a plan to create a safe haven that would ban commercial whale hunting from West Africa to the coasts of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, extending a protected area already in place in the Southern Ocean.
However, 14 countries opposed the plan, meaning it narrowly failed to get the 75% of votes required.
Among the opponents were Norway, one of the three countries that still engage in commercial whaling, along with Iceland and Japan. Iceland abstained, while Japan left the IWC in 2019.
Petter Meier, head of the Norwegian delegation, told the meeting that the proposal "represents all that is wrong" about the IWC, adding that a sanctuary was "completely unnecessary".
Norway, Japan and Iceland made 825 whale catches worldwide last year, according to data submitted to the IWC.
Whaling fleets "foreign to the region" have engaged in "severe exploitation" of most species of large whales in the South Atlantic, and a sanctuary would help maintain current populations, the proposal said.
The South Atlantic is home to 53 species of whales and other cetaceans, such as dolphins, with many facing extinction risks, said the proposal. It also included a plan to protect cetaceans from accidental "bycatch" by fishing fleets.
"It's a bitter disappointment that the proposal ... has yet again been narrowly defeated by nations with a vested interest in killing whales for profit," said Grettel Delgadillo, Latin America deputy director at Humane Society International, an animal conservation group.
An effort by Antigua and Barbuda to declare whaling a source of "food security" did not gain support, and the IWC instead backed a proposal to maintain a global moratorium on commercial whaling in place since 1986.
"Considering the persistent attempts by pro-whaling nations to dismantle the 40-year-old ban, the message behind this proposal is much needed," said Delgadillo.