When humans are engaged in killing one another, other species inevitably die too.  This war has already taken a horrific toll.  And this particular brand of injustice takes many forms.

Early in this conflict it came to light that dolphins were being put to work by Russia’s Black Sea fleet.  Being as intelligent as they are, and therefore as highly trainable, it’s unsurprising that invariably some sick mind will think of a military application for them.  You can be sure that the dolphins themselves were not consulted.  Just the latest iteration of animals being dragged into our conflicts, from Hannibal’s elephants shepherded over the Alps into Northern Italy, to the ‘war horses’ employed on the battlefields of World War One, all the way to the present day. Callous and casual indifference to the best interests of others as we pursue our own, entirely human folly.

But beyond that, a significantly greater contributor to the total numbers affected by this carnage comes in the form of ‘collateral damage’.  Along with millions of human non-combatants impacted by this war, so many others have been caught in the crossfire.  Dogs and cats, formerly animal companions of so many who’ve died or fled, now roam through the rubble of Ukrainian cities looking for anything available to sustain them.  We’ve also been flooded with heart-wrenching images of zoo animals who’ve survived the bombing only to starve, emaciated and abandoned, with no one left alive or able to provide care.   Every one of them an innocent as humans attempt to resolve their differences in the most pointless way possible.

Then there are the dolphins.  Unfortunately, Ukraine has not yet joined the still very thin ranks of cetacean-captivity-free nations.  Dolphinaria exist in places like Donetsk, Kiev, Odessa and Kharkiv – all cities that have been under bombardment at one time or another since this started.  Imagine the impossibly dangerous position you’d be in if you were confined to a very limited space, with no pathway to escape or to seek safety when the shelling starts.  Or the people upon whom you depend for your food are forced to flee for their lives.  So far, it seems we’ve been lucky, in that we haven’t seen reports of dolphin deaths in this manner.  We do know that a refinery only 5 kms away from the Odessa facility was recently bombed by Russian forces.  Many of the dolphins arrived there after they were successfully evacuated from Kharkiv to Odessa on April 29^th.   Safety is elusive, and will remain so for some time as this war drags on.

Out in the Black Sea, the situation is appalling and unbearably tragic.  A recent story made international headlines as scientists reported that dolphins are being killed or seriously injured by powerful military sonars, as well as by underwater explosions.  It’s possible that many have been making contact with the ubiquitous underwater mines put down in the area since the war started.  As a result, hundreds of dead dolphins have washed up on the coasts of Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey in the last two months.  If not killed outright, these detonations cause serious internal damage and burns, making survival unlikely.  When hit by sonar the dolphins also become disoriented and unable to navigate.  

Those conducting the military operations responsible for this damage to ecosystems and wildlife are, of course, not forthcoming with this information.  For that we rely on more independent sources.  One of these in this case has been Atanas Rusev, a Sofia-based engineer and scientist, who heads Save the Dolphins in Bulgaria (as well as a number of other environmental groups).  He has been advocating for stricter measures to protect Black Sea dolphins for over a decade.  

Mr. Rusev made news in 2015 when another of his groups – Save Koral Beach, an org dedicated to saving one of the last ‘wild’ beaches in Bulgaria – teamed up with the Romanian group “OCEANIC Club” to investigate the large number of deaths of young dolphins who’d been washing up on beaches.  Rusev is also the GIS (Geographic Information System) Manager at a company that develops computer systems that analyze and display information derived from data attached to specific, unique locations.   Using this technology, they were able to establish definitively that the cause and culprit behind the deaths of these young dolphins is the illegal turbot fishing industry.  

Now, we have a new villain operating in the Black Sea, and Rusev was able to report that they’d recorded a large number of cases where dolphins had become disoriented and run aground in the Ropotamo delta.  Images and documentation he provided were what enabled scientists to sound the alarm.  His colleague, marine biologist Răzvan Popescu-Mirceni, who is based in Constanța, Romania, described the following in a FB post:

 “Serious victims of the war and among the cetacean population in the Black Sea. Today, my friend Atanas Rusev informed me that in Bulgaria, at the mouth of the Ropotamo River in the sea, several porpoises appeared in the inability to orient and very weak. Some had burns from explosions of bombs, most likely brought by currents (they are no longer able to orient)… Imagine that the dolphin in the picture with an extended burn was still alive at the time of the photo. We estimate that they have not been able to feed for at least 10 days due to the thickness of the adipose tissue. Those who were not burned suffered internal injuries and were severely impaired. I don’t want to imagine the pain that this poor animal feels.”

The same has been found as far away as the Turkish coast.  There as well, dead dolphins have also been found, and experts like biologist Bayram Öztürk, point to the war in Ukraine.  In particular, the military sonars.  “Acoustic trauma is a cause that comes to mind.”  

A terrifying prospect is that, as with the victims of turbot fishing, only a small percentage of the casualties wash up on beaches, which suggests that the true scale of the unfolding wildlife disaster could be much larger than what we see at present.

So we can add that to the already long list of reasons that the end of this war cannot come soon enough.  In the meantime, we are grateful to people like Rusev, Popescu-Mirceni and Öztürk for forcing us to at least glimpse the terrible consequences that can result from our ill-conceived actions.

For The Orca’s Voice, 

Chris, Canadian Cetacean Alliance