🔗 Share this article

The beluga known as Jelly Bean’s offspring Bertie is an adorable small “ham sandwich”. Orion – called “Onion” – is a sizeable but very loyal companion. Another whale, Zephyr has “ants in his pants” and wiggles like a wiggly creature. Lillooet the beluga is the “loving presence” with a heart of gold.

Thirty enclosed beluga whales in a Canada-based amusement park have been caught in a tussle between a defunct facility, government authorities and animal rights activists.

But those most familiar with the whales say the intense controversy over their fate often overlooks the nuances of the whales who, after spending their lives in enclosed habitats, have been thoroughly researched by the humans who see them each day.

After the national authorities prevented the export of the belugas to a foreign facility, the struggling facility near Niagara Falls where they are housed stated it would consider to euthanize them unless the authorities covers the expense of keeping them alive. The nation’s marine resources official has rejected that demand, placing the 30 whales in an dangerously unstable situation.

Highly Cognitive Marine Mammals

Experts say that beluga whales’ neural makeup, along with their sound replication, problem solving and communal behavior suggest they are remarkably smart creatures – something a former trainer learned directly.

Burgess spent several years as a beluga trainer, a job that involved gaining confidence of the aquatic animals.

“Establishing those relationships over time takes a lot of consistency and a lot of love. At the outset, they’re very cautious of you,” she said. “Over time, you gain mutual trust. And they start being more open with you. It’s just so magical and gratifying.”

Burgess knew the whales were highly intelligent, but she says she was nonetheless surprised by the nuances and unique traits in their dispositions. She formed a particular love for a pair of whales with different temperaments.

“Eve accepted me. Cleo required effort,” she said. “Each altered the way I view relationships.”

Growing Opposition and Facility Decline

Her relationship with the whales evolved against a context of growing public opposition to their captivity.

During her three years at the park, seven belugas and the park’s one orca, Kiska, died. In total, nineteen belugas have died at the park since 2019, a number which the facility ascribes to natural mortality, but which advocates say points to the inadequate care in which they were maintained.

The park did not admit visitors to the visitors over the summer, but the former trainer says she witnessed firsthand consequences of the shutdown. “Concrete is breaking off from the tanks because they’re falling apart and not being fixed. The whales are inquisitive and so they grab fragments and swim around with chunks in their jaws. It’s heartbreaking to see.”

The facility did not comment to a request for comment, but previously claimed: “The whales … get far better veterinary services and around the clock attention than any person in the UK, or anywhere else.”

Uncertain Future and Proposed Solutions

Burgess was fired from the park in early March following the passing of Eos, an sick beluga the park staff had to humanely kill. She said the facility thought information of the death were disclosed to the media and she was released not long after.

The lack of clarity over the whales’ fate has left Burgess and current and former trainers in despair. She says the park’s threat to end the lives of its whales is a bargaining chip and is a “logistically impossible” task, adding any efforts to put down even a single beluga would require “significant manpower”, trucks and machinery.

“It cannot happen in hell the caretakers would ever do it,” she said.

She advocates for demands for the whales to be transferred immediately from the park, with its crumbling tanks and reduced personnel.

In the autumn, the nation’s fisheries minister turned down a request to send the whales to an overseas location.

“Granting the application would have meant a perpetual existence in enclosure and a return to performance for audiences,” the minister wrote. “As the public, we know that belugas belong in the wild, not in enclosures for our entertainment. I could not in ethical standing approve an transfer that would prolong the treatment these belugas have endured.”

But the former trainer said the minister’s comments indicate a more general misunderstanding of the circumstances of living conditions for belugas living their whole lives in enclosures.

“The society needs to grasp these are whales that have existed solely in confinement and they will need human care for the foreseeable future,” she said. “Many just don’t understand that it’s not as easy as saying ‘close it down’.”

Sanctuary Proposal and Ongoing Debate

As decision makers struggle to find a solution, proposals have been put forward, some of which have minimal feasibility. A suggested plan called for the belugas to be let go into the open waters of Canada’s north – where whales are a important part of nourishment for Inuit communities.

A planned protected area in the region of eastern Canada, which has received regulatory clearance, has proven highly debated. The prospective location, which includes extensive space of penned in ocean, doesn’t yet exist. Advocates remain positive that it could in time represent a sustainable solution for a number of the whales.

But, the former trainer says, among staff she’s spoken with, there is “no trust there” about what she said is “merely an experiment” in the whales’ fate.

Others say the idea of a protected habitat represents a broader global shift away from zoos and aquariums and could represent a feasible solution in the short term.

Charles Vinick, head of the sanctuary project, said the location will replicate the cognitive activities and nutrition the whales get from caretakers, albeit in a more expansive environment. He said after the health of whales is thoroughly evaluated, which could take months|an extended period|