🔗 Share this article

Jelly Bean’s daughter Bertie Botts is an cute small “playful character”. Orion – called “Onion Ring” – is a sizeable but guardian-like companion. Another whale, Zephyr has “endless energy” and wiggles like a worm. Lillooet the beluga is the “most affectionate” with a heart of gold.

A group of thirty enclosed beluga whales in a Canadian entertainment facility have been entangled in a disagreement between a shuttered park, government authorities and welfare campaigners.

But those most familiar with the whales say the heated debate over their future often fails to consider the individual traits of the whales who, after growing up in confinement, have been closely studied by the humans who see them each day.

After the Canadian government disallowed the export of the belugas to a foreign facility, the controversial attraction near Niagara Falls where they are housed threatened to euthanize them unless the federal government funds the expense of keeping them alive. The nation’s fisheries minister has denied that ultimatum, placing the thirty whales in an increasingly precarious circumstance.

Intelligent Sea Creatures

Researchers say that belugas’ neural makeup, along with their sound replication, cognitive challenges and social skills indicate they are highly cognitive mammals – something Kristy Burgess learned personally.

She spent a significant period as a marine mammal specialist, a position that entailed building relationships of the aquatic animals.

“Developing those relationships over time takes a lot of regularity and a lot of care. At the start, they’re very unsure of you,” she said. “Over time, you gain mutual trust. And they start being more open with you. It’s just so magical and fulfilling.”

Burgess knew the whales were exceptionally cognitive, but she says she was nonetheless surprised by the subtleties and unique traits in their characters. She developed a special affection for a pair of whales with opposing natures.

“One whale accepted me. The other required effort,” she said. “Each changed the way I view relationships.”

Public Concerns and Facility Decline

Burgess’s relationship with the whales evolved against a backdrop of growing public opposition to their confinement.

During her three years at the attraction, seven belugas and the park’s one killer whale, the orca, passed away. In total, nineteen belugas have perished at the park since recent years, a toll which the park ascribes to age-related causes, but which advocates say points to the poor conditions in which they were housed.

The park did not operate to the guests over the recent season, but the former trainer says she observed directly results of the cessation. “Concrete is breaking off from the pools because they’re in disrepair and not being fixed. The whales are curious and so they grab fragments and navigate with pieces in their mouth. It’s distressing to see.”

The park did not reply to a request for comment, but previously asserted: “The whales … obtain far better health care and constant supervision than any individual in the United Kingdom, or elsewhere.”

Fate in Limbo and Proposed Solutions

Burgess was terminated from the park in recent months following the demise of Eos, an unwell beluga the park staff had to humanely kill. She said the facility believed particulars of the death were shared to the news outlets and she was fired shortly thereafter.

The lack of clarity over the whales’ future has left Burgess and current and former trainers in distress. She says the park’s threat to kill its whales is a leverage tool and is a “logistically impossible” endeavor, adding any attempts to euthanize even a single beluga would require “considerable staff”, trucks and machinery.

“There’s no way in hell the caretakers would ever do it,” she said.

Burgess advocates for calls for the whales to be transferred right away from the facility, with its crumbling tanks and reduced personnel.

In the autumn, Canada’s fisheries minister rejected a proposal to send the whales to an overseas location.

“Granting the application would have meant a continued existence in confinement and a return to public entertainment,” the official wrote. “As society, we know that belugas should be in the sea, not in tanks for our amusement. I could not in good conscience approve an export that would continue the conditions these belugas have experienced.”

But Burgess said the minister’s statements reveal a wider incorrect perception of the facts of living conditions for belugas born in captivity.

“The society needs to grasp these are whales that have lived entirely in captivity and they will need human care for the foreseeable future,” she said. “People just don’t realize that it’s not as easy as saying ‘shut it down’.”

Alternative Habitat and Continuing Discussion

As officials attempt to find a answer, ideas have surfaced, some of which have minimal feasibility. A suggested plan called for the belugas to be freed into the open waters of the Arctic – where whales are a important part of nourishment for Inuit communities.

A suggested sanctuary in the province of eastern Canada, which now received regulatory clearance, has shown to be most controversial. The planned location, which includes extensive space of protected cove, doesn’t yet exist. Advocates remain positive that it could eventually represent a sustainable resolution for a number of the whales.

But, Burgess says, among staff she’s spoken with, there is “doubts there” about what she said is “merely an untested concept” in the whales’ future.

Some experts say the idea of a protected habitat represents a worldwide trend away from zoos and aquariums and could represent a workable approach in the short term.

Charles Vinick, director of the initiative, said the facility will replicate the mental engagement and diet the whales get from trainers, albeit in a significantly bigger environment. He said after the medical condition of whales is thoroughly evaluated, which could take months|an extended period|