News + Videos: Aquatic Mammals

[carly]

Thank you for bringing attention to this TPC - it's just horrific 

[The Peregrine Chick]

More than 100 animals trapped in "whale jail" off Russia's coast
by Ed Gove  |  CBS News  |  November 7, 2018, 8:58 AM

More than 100 whales are being held in cramped and potentially illegal enclosures on Russia's Pacific east coast. Prosecutors are investigating the site near the city of Nakhodka, which has been dubbed a "whale jail" by local media.

Eleven orca and 90 beluga whales are being held in the pens, and activists fear they are illegally being sold to Chinese water parks and aquariums, contravening laws on the capture of wild whales.  Some of the animals have been in containment since July, CBS News correspondent Debora Patta reported on Wednesday.

A video shared on social media on Monday shows a whale being lifted out of a small container by a crane in preparation, activists believe, to ship it to China.  It is illegal to capture wild whales except for educational and scientific purposes following a worldwide ban on commercial whale hunting in 1982. However, orca whales, or killer whales as they are often called, can fetch as much as $6 million at theme parks in China. 

Russian newspaper Novaya Gazetta has reported that the four companies that own the containers exported 13 whales to China between 2013 and 2016.  Between 2012 and 2015, the companies allegedly involved were granted permission to capture ten orcas in the wild for educational purposes. However, seven of those whales were exported to China, where one was valued at over $1 million on a customs form.  Earlier this year, Russian authorities called on the Interior Ministry to launch a fraud investigation over the capture and sale of the seven whales.  Other firms are reportedly renting out whales in an effort to get around certain restrictions on the sale of wild sea mammals. 

Video shot from a helicopter of the containment tanks shows dozens of beluga whales in tight quarters. Experts say that given the size of the tanks, many of the whales must be calves. The capture of whale calves is categorically forbidden, even for scientific or educational reasons.

Greenpeace Russia has condemned the conditions as "torture," and warned that capturing whales in these numbers threatens the animals' population in the long term.  The Telegraph quoted Greenpeace Russia's Oganes Targulyan as saying that although the law permits the capture of 13 killer whales per year, "no one is taking into account that at least one orca is killed for every one that is caught. Catching them at this tempo, we risk losing our entire orca population."  In the nearby Kamchatka region, orca numbers have decreased so drastically that they are now listed as endangered.

source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-whale-jail-investigated-prosecutors-nakhodka-orca-beluga-whales-held/
** there is a video - nothing gross, grisly or dangerous, but it is obviously a beluga whale in the sling

[The Peregrine Chick]

These teeny tiny baby otters might be too much cuteness to handle

news story, photos & short video = WWT Washington Wetland Centre - baby otters

[The Peregrine Chick]

Whales Take In the Northern Lights

Video = Weather Network - Whales & Northern Lights

[The Peregrine Chick]

Divers Freak Out When They See This ...

The Weather Network - Divers freak out when they see this

It's a whale shark - a filter-feeder so no danger except as a collision hazard !  

[The Peregrine Chick]

Orca 'Granny,' 103, comes home for Mother's Day
CBC News / 13 May 2014

The oldest known orca in the world was spotted near Vancouver Island this past weekend, marking the grand matriarch's annual return to her home waters just in time for Mother's Day.

The whale, known as "Granny" or J2, is estimated to be up to 103-years-old.

Simon Pidcock of Ocean Ecoventures in Cowichan Bay said he spotted Granny on May 9 in the southern section of the Strait of Georgia midway across, along with the rest of her family known as J Pod.

It was the first time that the pod of resident whales had been spotted in the area this spring. The pod normally spends the summers in the waters between the mainland and Vancouver Island now known as the Salish Sea.
'Pretty excited'

"With her age, we're always concerned, you know, whether she's going to come back, you know, for another year.  And so everyone's really … you know … it's the first question … is Granny there?" said Pidcock.

"And sure enough, she was. She was travelling with the front of the pod with another larger male … so, everyone was pretty excited."

The lifespan of a wild orca is generally 60 to 90 years. It is estimated Granny was born in 1911.

Pidcock says the estimates of her age are based on studies of the family group that began in the 1970. The pod is the most studied population of killer whales in the world.

source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/orca-granny-103-comes-home-for-mother-s-day-1.2641231

[The Peregrine Chick]

Not a video or a news story but a beautiful photo



See the image larger at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/10557804/Pictures-of-the-day-8-January-2014.html?frame=2784220

[Kinderchick]

Definitely a video not to be missed!

[The Peregrine Chick]

Not news, but this is an amazing video of dolphins playing with air bubbles.  Not to be missed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TMCf7SNUb-Q

[allikat]

Again, nature always seems to amaze me!  There is a reason for everything!

[The Peregrine Chick]

A group of fishermen just couldn't help but help ...

http://www.gofishn.com/gofishn/anglers-rescue-seals-killer-whales-british-columbia/


And sometimes it's help from non-human sources ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/26/whales-save-seal-from-orcas
http://digitaljournal.com/article/324348

[Kinderchick]

Now that video really was very sweet!

[The Peregrine Chick]

YouTube celebrity sea otter dies from cancer

Milo was diagnosised last summer at the Vancouver Aquarium with lymphoma
CBC News  |  Last Updated: Jan 12, 2012 11:17 AM PT



Milo became a YouTube sensation after a visitor posted a video of him holding hands with Nyac, a female sea otter, as they floated on their backs at the aquarium. (YouTube)

A sea otter at the Vancouver Aquarium that rose to fame four years ago on YouTube has died after undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma.

Milo the 12-year-old sea otter became a YouTube sensation after a visitor posted a video of him holding hands with Nyac, a female sea otter, as they floated on their backs at the aquarium.

The video, which was posted online in 2007 has since logged nearly 17 million hits.

But last summer staff noticed Milo was a bit lethargic and he was diagnosised with cancer.

Aquarium veterinarian Dr. Martin Haulena said specialists from around the world collaborated to create a unique chemotherapeutic treatment program for Milo.

"He was the very first live sea otter diagnosed with lymphoma. He was also the very first sea otter that I'm aware of that had chemotherapy," said Haulena.

"We worked with a lot of people around the world creating a very special plan for him including some very very novel treatments and I think we did very well by him."

Milo responded positively to the treatment for the first six months and between the treatments he spent time in the sea otter habitat at the aquarium with the other otters.

But on Thursday staff at the aqaurium announced he had been euthanized on Wednesday.

“He was one of our emblematic animals who was loved by staff, volunteers, members and people worldwide. Our team—especially those who worked closely with Milo during the past months to provide specialized care while he was receiving treatment—are saddened by his death but take solace in his peaceful departure,” said a statement issued by the aquarium.

Milo became a YouTube sensation after a visitor posted a video of him holding hands with Nyac, a female sea otter, as they floated on their backs at the aquarium. (YouTube)Lymphoma has been documented before in wild otters whose bodies were recovered after they died in California, but Milo was the first living sea otter to be treated for the disease.

Milo was born in a Portuguese zoo and arrived at the Vancouver Aquarium when he was young.

His partner in the Youtube video, Nyac, a 20-year-old female sea otter, succumbed to chronic lymphatic leukemia in 2008.

Nyac was among eight sea otters brought to the aquarium following the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill that devastated Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989


original article, photos & video (yes, "the video") YouTube celebrity sea otter dies from cancer

[The Peregrine Chick]

Otter Pup Swim Lessons - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpTqV6LPl8c