Friday, Mar 29 2024
All Cities
Choose Your City
'Since 1902 there was a daily 'butter' train, leaving Novosibirsk to Riga, Latvia, with 25 carriages, each loaded with 7 000 kg of butter'
0

Even the seals are in patriotic mood as Russia marks sacred Victory Day

By 0 and 0 and 0
09 May 2015

0

'I realised that seals are no worse than dolphins. Maybe they are even smarter'. Picture: Rossiya One, Vesti Irkutsk

While elsewhere in Russia dolphins and seals have been trained for real-life military activities, this is more of a show.

The seals, called Winnie the Pooh and Laska, march with toy guns wearing military hats for a performance linked to Victory Day on 9 May. They dive through obstacles with the plastic knives in their mouths, hoist a flag and shoot with water guns.

Baikal seals were earlier trained to do tricks like playing with a ball, jumping through hoops, drawing, singing and dancing. 

Evgeniy Baranov, founder of the world's first seal circus, said: 'The new show is a logical development of the tricks that our seals learned earlier. With every rehearsal they get better and better.'

The seals march with toy guns wearing military hats for a performance linked to Victory Day on 9 May


The seals march with toy guns wearing military hats for a performance linked to Victory Day on 9 May


The seals march with toy guns wearing military hats for a performance linked to Victory Day on 9 May


The seals march with toy guns wearing military hats for a performance linked to Victory Day on 9 May
Seals called Winnie the Pooh and Laska in Irkutsk aquarium. Pictures: Rossiya One, Vesti Irkutsk


The seals live in a special aquarium cooled to 2-to-3 degrees Celsius, as in Lake Baikal, the deepest in the world. They are fed with the same food as their wild, namely Baikal oil fish and goby fish. 

'I have been working with Baikal seals for over 25 years,' said Mr Baranov. 'For some time I worked in a laboratory, almost 24/7. There were seals living there, and I looked after them, observing their traits.

'I started training and handling them. It wasn't too long before I realised that seals are no worse than dolphins. Maybe they are even smarter. 

'Seals can solve logical, technical puzzles'.

Comments (8)

he was forced to eat cement, like every other russian patriot
Tallen Leivers, Northcliffe, Western Australia
09/01/2023 15:42
1
0
Jajaj! Funny seal! With gun! Shoot the gun! Jaja!
Eván, Mexico
16/01/2020 21:45
62
0
they must guard pool from western capitalism
ink finch davideo man, pyongyang
18/07/2016 02:00
63
1
When there is war,the only logical way of fighting is to preserve human life
Adrian, South Africa
15/07/2015 03:46
1
1
At least, they don´t write history themselves .
michel cloarec, stockholm /sweden
12/05/2015 12:46
30
28
I don't think the world population of seals would be very amused; at the games humans make 2 of their clan partake in. For you see, the glorification of war is not one bit "Funny"! PS. I'm not surprised this is a Rossiya One project; it seems war & hate is all they are fed to talk about.
Jaker, Dundalk
11/05/2015 02:59
3
70
It's a seal holding a toy gun. Come on. It's funny. And it's Russia!
Jacko, Byron Bay , Australia
10/05/2015 11:53
79
4
I think it is totally tasteless to use animals promoting war and weapons, it is already stupid enough for people to do that ?
Marko, Bulgaria
09/05/2015 23:43
8
80
1

Add your comment

We welcome a healthy debate, but do not accept offensive or abusive comments. Please also read 'Siberian Times' Privacy Policy

Name

Town/Country

Add your comments

The views expressed in the comments above are those of our readers. 'Siberian Times' reserves the right to pre-moderate some comments.

Control code*

Type the code

* obligatory


News

Business

The Bank of Russia official exchange rates of foreign currencies
EUR99.71USD92.26GBP116.52Other...