Dmitry Bachinsky who works at the Primorsky Oceanarium has been caught on film punching and kicking the Beluga whales that he trains as a part of the show at the oceanarium.
Nil and Lear apparently were punished for not giving him a kiss as they are trained to do as apart of the show.
Freedom for Killer Whales and Beluga claim that this is his normal training behavior. The trainers at the Oceanarium claim that the type of physical aggression is sometimes needed because the whales become aggressive during mating season.
Advocates from animal rights groups insist that "these are abnormal methods, barbaric and in law this amounts to cruelty to animals". "This is not training but beating"
The Oceanarium has had previous events of abuse. A trainer was fired for beating a walrus and other animals have become entangled in nets and died. There is a level of abuse that is happening at facilities like this that proves the point that they should no longer exist.
Locally at Golden Gate Fields there have numerous horse deaths that are going unexplained. WHY DO WE NEED THESE FORMS OF ENTERTAINMENT.
Ringling Bros.Barnum & Bailey Circus had been cancelled, why can't we do away with all this abuse that is disguised as "training" for entertainment for us?