The Last Surviving Orca at Moskvarium

A conversation with Russian dolphin freedom advocate Oxana Fedorova about Naya, the last surviving orca at Moskvarium in Moscow, Russia.

Background:

Naya, who is the last survivor of three wild-caught orcas at Moskvarium in Russia, gave birth on December 29th 2023. The calf, a female, died just 28 days later, on January 26th. With the death of her daughter, Naya is once again all alone. Moskvarium opened to the public in August 2015 with a young male named Nord and two young female orcas named Narnia and Juliette. (”Juliette” was Naya’s previous stage name.) They were captured during the period 2012-2014, and both Narnia and Nord have since died. Moskvarium has said that Naya conceived naturally, in which case Nord was the father. According to a statement issued by Moskvarium, Naya’s calf suffered from a heart defect.

Oxana Fedorova has worked on the dolphin captivity issue in Russia since 2014. She is founder of the Save Dolphins movement, member of Free Russian Whales coalition, and a Dolphin Project volunteer. I spoke to her about current efforts to create a better future for Naya, who now lives in isolation at Moskvarium’s desolate show stadium.

“The orca show was popular right from the start, and Moskvarium told spectators that the orcas had been rescued from poachers, which of course wasn’t true. They were all captured specifically to fill the show stadium at Moskvarium.” ~ Oxana Fedorova

Helene: Do you recall the day Naya arrived at Moskvarium in Moscow?
Oxana: Yes, I remember it clearly. She arrived at Moskvarium at the end of 2014, when Narnia and Nord were already there. They had been kept at a temporary holding facility in Moscow since the end of 2013, while Moskvarium was still under construction. When Naya got there, the main facility was almost completed, and this is where she joined Narnia and Nord. All three had been taken from transient orca populations that roam the Sea of Okhotsk in the western Pacific Ocean. Naya was captured in 2014 and was the youngest of the three. Some sources say she was less than a year old. She was so small, they literally called her “Malishka,” which is Russian for “baby.” That was her stage name for a while. Then they renamed her to “Juliette/Juliet,” and after that, she became “Naya.” My colleagues and I fought hard to free them, but were unsuccessful. They could have all been returned to their families, if only Moskvarium had agreed to it, but they wouldn’t. Moskvarium is the largest aquarium in Russia and brings in thousands of paying visitors every year. The orca show was popular right from the start, and Moskvarium told spectators that the orcas had been rescued from poachers, which of course wasn’t true. They were all captured specifically to fill the show stadium at Moskvarium.

Helene: Narnia was captured in 2012 and died on January 8, 2023. Nord was captured in 2013 and died on June 23rd, 2023. With the recent death of Naya’s daughter, do you think Moskvarium will finally reach the conclusion that orcas don’t belong in captivity?
Oxana: I have high hopes that Moskvarium has finally realized that the capture and confinement of these ocean-roaming marine mammals is a huge mistake. I have been told that the leadership of the company has changed, and that the new people in charge don’t support the capture of orcas, bottlenose dolphins, beluga whales, or any other marine mammals. Moskvarium has repeated that statement after the death of Naya’s daughter, so I think it’s safe to say they will not be getting any more new orcas in the future.

Helene: How many cetaceans does Moskvarium currently have besides Naya?
Oxana: As far as we know, they have one beluga whale and about 10 bottlenose dolphins. They originally had two beluga whales that had been captured in Russia. They named the female Ponka and the male Ponchik. Ponchik died in 2019, and at the end of 2022, Moskvarium got another beluga whale from a dolphinarium in Crimea that was closing down. He passed away in September of 2023, and today Ponka lives all alone at Moskvarium. She has severe scoliosis and can barely swim, and they don’t use her in shows.

It’s impossible to know the exact number of bottlenose dolphins at Moskvarium, since we have no access to a public database, and when a dolphin dies, we usually don’t know about it right away. Besides, Moskvarium sometimes buys new dolphins from other Russian facilities, and it’s difficult for outsiders to keep track.

Helene: Where has Moskvarium been getting its wild-caught bottlenose dolphins from?
Oxana: We know that in the past, Moskvarium has purchased several dolphins that were captured in the drive hunts of Taiji, Japan. Fourteen bottlenose dolphins and two pilot whales arrived at Moskvarium from Taiji in 2017. Originally, there were 15 dolphins, but one of them never made it to Moscow, and we don’t know exactly why. It may have died in transport on its way to Russia. Most, if not all of the 14 dolphins that arrived in Moscow have since died. Moskvarium used to have a swim-with-dolphins program, where many Taiji dolphins were used, but it has been closed for about a year now. The two pilot whales from Taiji were never on public display at Moskvarium. They were kept at Moskvarium’s training facility, out of the public’s view, and then sold to China after about two years. One of them died shortly after arriving in China, and we don’t know the fate of the other one.

Helene: What is the current status of whale and dolphin captures in Russia?
Oxana: Russia now has a law in place that prohibits the capture of cetaceans, but there is a loophole, and entrepreneurs could still capture them with a special permit. No captures have taken place since the “whale jail” scandal in 2018/2019, when about 100 wild-caught orcas and beluga whales were warehoused in cramped sea cages in Srednyaya Bay near the far eastern town of Nakhodka. Our campaign to have them released before they were sold off to aquariums was successful, and the companies behind the captures have closed down.

Naya has been trained to beach herself onto the concrete floor and remain there for photo ops. This unnatural behaviour is extremely popular with spectators and is also frequently used during orca shows at Loro Parque in Tenerife, Spain. Credit: Moskvarium; Inherently Wild

“I think Naya should be moved to a sanctuary that Moskvarium promised before her calf died, and she should be given a chance to be rehabilitated and possibly released. It would be an expensive campaign, and we don’t know if it’s even possible yet, but we won’t know unless we try.” ~ Oxana Fedorova

Helene: Do you think it would be possible to locate Naya’s pod and arrange for them to reconnect?
Oxana: This is a very difficult question, as it depends on so many factors. Before we even talk about locating Naya’s pod – which is pretty complicated, but not impossible – we need to determine if she is a candidate for release. That’s the main question, and I don’t know the answer to it. Naya was captured at a very young age and has spent a decade in captivity. I don’t know anything about her physical or mental health at the moment. There are many factors that should be evaluated before a decision is made to release her. But even if she can’t be released, that shouldn’t mean she has to live in a barren show stadium for the rest of her life. Before Naya’s calf died, Moskvarium announced plans to move them both to a sea sanctuary, but now that Naya is alone, I don’t know if the plans to retire her are still on the table. I fear the Moskvarium will either wait for her to die or sell her to an aquarium in China. Sending her to China will only fix one thing: she will no longer be in solitary confinement. But she will remain trapped in a show stadium and will never have a chance to feel the sea again. She will just be dumped into another concrete prison. Is this the best we can do for her? I don’t think so.

I think Naya should be moved to a sanctuary that Moskvarium promised before her calf died, and she should be given a chance to be rehabilitated and possibly released. It would be an expensive campaign, and we don’t know if it’s even possible yet, but we won’t know unless we try.

If Naya proves to be a candidate for release, then there is a chance for her to be reunited with her family group. We don’t know which pod she was captured from, but we know that she belongs to a small marine mammal-eating orca population in the Sea of Okhotsk. Scientists know where they are at certain times of the year, so if Naya is put in a seapen at the right location and at the right time, it is possible that she can encounter her family group. Orcas have very good memories, and there is a chance that Naya would be accepted back into her pod, and that her pod members would help her to once again live as a wild and free whale. I think it’s definitely something that should be explored as an option, even though it is complicated.

Helene: What is your message to Moskvarium?
Oxana: The most amazing thing, of course, would be to see Naya reunited with her pod. If Moskvarium decides not to explore that option, then I urge them to help create an ocean sanctuary, where she and other non-releasable dolphins and whales can live out their lives with some quality and dignity. No orca or other dolphin should ever have to die inside a concrete tank. Naya lost both of her companions, and she only got to spend 28 days with her daughter before she, too, perished before her eyes. Today, she is completely alone, and, as we all know, living in isolation is one of the worst things that can happen to an orca. Letting her languish in that tank all by herself until she dies would be extremely cruel, and sending her to China would be cruel, too. I hope Moskvarium realizes that they have a chance to change history by creating a sanctuary for Naya and the others, and they should. It’s the only right step forward.

Helene: How can our readers contribute to ending the exploitation of dolphins and whales in Russia?
Oxana: We have created a petition asking Moskvarium to end all shows with marine mammals and consider the possibility of creating an ocean sanctuary for them instead. Many people in Russia support our efforts, and if we could add more international pressure, we might succeed in making sure that Naya and the other captives at Moskvarium will be given better lives. Every signature counts, and petitions, if they get enough signatures, have helped to change legislation in the past. We can’t just give up on Naya and the others. They need our help.

TAKE ACTION – Please sign the petition to stop marine mammal captivity in the Moscow Aquarium.

Featured image: Naya with her unnamed daughter who was born on December 29th 2023 and died 28 days later, on January 26th 2024. Since the death of her daughter, Naya once again lives in complete isolation at Moskvarium’s dreary orca stadium. Credit: Moskvarium; Inherently Wild

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