VLADIVOSTOK (Russia), Aug 14 (NNN-XINHUA) — A family of five belugas were rescued by fishermen in northern Kamchatka of Russia’s Far East, local media reported on Monday.
Minister of Natural Resources of Kamchatka Alexei Kumarkov told RIA Novosti the incident happened last Thursday, when fishermen spotted four adult belugas and one calf on the shore of the Sea of Okhotsk. The animals were washed up by the tide and could not move. The fishermen poured water over them for several hours until the tide came back and they were able to swim away.
In the video recorded by the fishermen themselves, the animals are lying on the sandbar next to each other, making different sounds, and some of them have a liquid resembling tears coming out of their eyes.
The Beluga belongs to the order of cetaceans and is a member of the narwhal family. Males are slightly larger than females. They have a body length of 6 meters and a weight of about 2,000 kilograms.
The habitat of different populations of beluga is the Arctic waters of the Sea of Okhotsk, White Sea, Kara Sea, and Arctic Ocean. Today, the world population of belugas has increased from 160,000 to 180,000 individuals. About 50 percent of belugas live near Russian shores. — NNN-XINHUA
