Nearly three dozen beluga whales stuck at a shuttered Canadian theme park since 2024 are finally getting moved to aquariums in America and Spain thanks to a down-to-the-wire rescue.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last week greenlit the emergency life-saving plan to spare the majestic creatures, which have been living at the closed-down Marineland park in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
The park had said in October that it would be forced to soon euthanize the whales if a transfer wasn’t approved, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Marineland park shut its doors to the public two years ago when major financial issues caused it to tank as it failed to provide adequate care for its animals.
Twenty whales had ended up dead at the park since 2019, according to data obtained by the Canadian press.
“This rescue effort will take several weeks to mobilize and complete, and the comfort and safety of the whales remains of the utmost importance,” said a rep for the American aquarium consortium, an organization involved in the undertaking.
The current plan is to split the belugas up between five accredited aquariums, with 28 headed to four US locations: the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and two SeaWorlds — one in San Diego and the other in San Antonio, according to the CBC.
The other two whales will be sent to Oceanogràfic València in Spain, the outlet reported.
The whales will have to be cleared by Canadian veterinarians before they can be transferred, and dedicated care staff from the US aquariums will soon arrive at Marineland to assess the whales’ well-being and make preparations for travel, the American consortium said.
“Once the belugas are cleared for travel by Canadian veterinarians, aquarium experts will accompany the animals to their new homes, where they will be met with diverse seafood to meet their nutritional needs, high quality environments with guaranteed water quality and onsite medical care should they require it at any time,” the group said in a statement.
The announcement comes more than eight months after the Canadian government denied Marineland’s request to send the 30 belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, which is an aquarium in China.
Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans Minister Joanne Thompson said that decision was consistent with a 2019 law making it illegal to use whales and dolphins in entertainment shows or keep them in captivity for that purpose.
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