An international conservationist has criticised a possible plan by Ocean Park to capture endangered species from Russian waters, saying it should not build exhibits for animals before research is completed.
Naomi Rose, a senior scientist with the Humane Society International, an animal protection organisation, said she would draw conservation watchdogs' attention to research on beluga whales in the Okhotsk Sea, which Ocean Park is funding. The marine mammologist petitioned the park against capturing wild animals for its redevelopment plan in 2005.
Construction of the new exhibit is under way and the future home of the whales, named the Polar Adventure Zone, is scheduled to open in mid-2012.
The theme park confirmed that it had been funding Russian research on beluga whales in the Okhotsk Sea since 2007 to support possible wildlife capture if it could not borrow the species from other zoos. The park said a two-year search in the industry found few belugas under human care that were surplus to requirements.
'We will continue to discuss opportunities for breeding loans as the first means for acquisition, but we must be prepared that some ... belugas may come from a non-detrimental take from a sustainable population,' a park spokeswoman said.
The belugas, which are toothed, vocal whales that live in Arctic waters, are classified as 'near-threatened' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list of threatened species. There is substantial uncertainty about numbers of belugas in the Russian Arctic.