Russia moves to free 'whale jail' animals

Russian officials said yesterday they will work towards freeing all orcas and belugas from a notorious facility in the east of the country, after a visit by US-based marine mammal advocates. Nearly 100 orca and beluga whales captured for sale to aquariums have been kept in small pens for months in what the media nicknamed a "whale jail" in the Russian Far East, as the campaign to release them gathered strength and became global.