VIDEO: Degrading Conditions at Russia’s Traveling Marine Circuses

Some of the cruelest and most degrading forms of captivity can be found in traveling dolphinariums and marine circuses.

Performing beluga whales in traveling dolphinarium
Credit: SaveDolphins.net

Performing sea lion and beluga whales in traveling dolphinarium
Credit: SaveDolphins.net

Below this blog, watch the video obtained by SaveDolphins.net showing a beluga whale being loaded onto a truck as a traveling circus leaves Smolensk City in Russia. Two belugas and a sea lion, both captured in Russian waters, had already spent hours in transit at the time this video was taken.

Traveling circuses are also popular in Indonesia, where three separate companies operate under appalling conditions. The animals are frequently hauled out of their plastic performing pools and loaded into the back of trucks, along with other animals, as the circuses move from town to town. The transportation is so stressful that many of the dolphins die from stress and lack of proper care.