Two belugas were rescued from a war zone in Ukraine and transferred to an aquarium in Spain.
The cetacean pair, Miranda and Blombir, were at the NEMO Dolphinarium in Kharkiv, which is subject to daily drone and missile attacks along the Russian border.
According to CNN, a team recruited from around the world, consisting of marine mammal care specialists from Oceanografic de Valencia, Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and SeaWorld, carried out the rescue operation.
The risky operation required a team of experts to enter a war zone, extract two cetaceans weighing about 3,500 pounds from the city, then take them to a waiting plane in Odessa and fly them to Valencia, where they are now.
“The health and safety of the belugas was our top priority, and conditions were difficult with bumpy roads, high temperatures and the inherent dangers of being in an active war zone,” said Keith Yip, animal care specialist at SeaWorld. to CNN.
Both receive special care at the Oceanographic Aquarium in Valencia, where Ukrainian keepers accompany them as they adapt to their new living environment far from war.
