Russia closes notorious ‘whale jail’

MOSCOW: Russia has dismantled a notorious facility dubbed the "whale jail" that kept dozens of the mammals in cramped conditions, causing an international outcry.

Almost 100 whales were kept in the secretive facility in Srednyaya Bay near the far eastern town of Nakhodka in 2018, before being released after an intense campaign by animal rights and environmentalist groups in 2019. The animals were captured to perform in aquariums. The environmental prosecutor’s office of the Amur Basin -- in the Russian Far East -- said on Thursday the jail had been completely dismantled. "In order to prevent the illegal keeping of sea animals, the floating structures were dismantled," it said in a statement.