New beluga family saved as rescuers call for creating whale emergency centres in Russian Far East

Inspector Alexey Paramonov,  36, saved another mother beluga and her calf, caught as the tide receded near the village of Chumikan in Khabarovsk region. 

The animals were lying on the rocky beach in freezing cold wind as Alexey’s video shows, with the calf crying in distress. 

Just like three days ago when the three other beluga whales were stranded on the same beach, mother beluga and her calf were some distance away from each other, so Alexey had to carry them close to each other. 

‘I prepared them both for the tide, brought the calf close to mother and turned them so that they faced the tide. It seemed to have calmed them down a bit’, Alexey said. 

Inspertor Alexey Paramonov, 36, saved five beluga whales in less than a week. Pictures, video: Alexey Paramonov 

Just like the family of two adults and one baby beluga whale earlier this week, these two would have not survived if it wasn’t for Alexey. 

The large mammals are helpless against sea gulls and dogs, they also get too cold waiting for the water to come back in the chilling autumn wind. 

This is exactly how a beluga whale died last year in the same area. 

Tidal waves in this area by mouth of river Uda are very high, with sea retreating as far as two kilometres, which means that more whales will get stranded. 

‘There were numerous chats about creating whale study biological stations in areas that attract them like here by the village of Chumikan.

The question is still in the air while the animals keep getting hurt’, said representative of the local tour operator Far East Expeditions, who closely followed the two recent rescue cases. 

Last year three beluga whales were caught in the tide, all of them were quite badly injured by birds, one beluga died. 

Two adult beluga whale and a calf were rescued by the same man, 36 year old Alexey Paramonov, on 15 October. Pictures: Alexey Paramonov