Why the US Asked the USSR for Help. The Whale Rescue in Alaska Shocked the World. Whale Stuck in ...
In 1988, the USSR, the United States, and local residents rescued gray whales trapped in ice in Alaska. The incident occurred in the town of Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in Alaska. Following a 2016 referendum, it was renamed Utqiagvik, the traditional name of the town in the Inuit language. On October 7, 1988, Inuit hunter Roy Ahmaogak discovered the whales trapped in a polynya, barely able to breathe at the surface. At a town meeting dedicated to saving the whales, a proposal was made to lure the whales out of the polynya and into the open water using recordings of whale songs. However, whales are unable to swim 8 kilometers under the ice on a single breath. Some suggested putting the whales out of their misery by shooting them. Thanks to a local reporter's news story, the story of the whales trapped in the ice was picked up by the media and quickly spread throughout the United States. After the media frenzy, US authorities couldn't let the whales die. From that moment on, Greenpeace, oil companies, the National Guard, and concerned citizens set out to rescue a family of three gray whales. At the end of the warm season, whales begin their migration to the shores of Mexico, and there's no point in making such a fuss, and the costs of a rescue would be colossal. But the rescue story, which had gained momentum, was unstoppable. When the whales were exhausted and all rescue plans were exhausted,
then US President Ronald Reagan asked for help from the Soviet Union, represented by Mikhail Gorbachev. Remember, this was the Cold War, and although relations between the great powers had warmed considerably, thoughts of a possible third world war between them still lingered in the memory. At the time, two Soviet ships, the icebreaker Admiral Makarav and the supply vessel Vladimir Arsenyev, were nearby.
They were ordered to assist the whales. The icebreaker broke through the ice pack and created a 380-meter-long passage, and the supply vessel cleared the path of debris so the whales could reach open water. In 2012, a film about this story was made in the United States, titled "Big Miracle." It was released in Russia under the title "Everybody Loves Whales."