Four Beluga Whales Died Weeks After Being Rescued From a Defunct Marine Park in Canada. Were the Animals Too Sick to Be Moved?

Four beluga whales that were rescued from a shuttered marine park in Canada died over the past couple of months after dramatic transfers to new homes in other countries. The animals were among a group of 30 whales and four dolphins relocated over the summer from Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario, which closed in 2024. The park threatened to euthanize the animals last fall, claiming that it was running out of money to continue caring for them.

As a result, an international operation moved them to facilities across the United States and Spain. But some of the animals seem to have had preexisting health problems and struggled to acclimate to their new environments. Three of the whales—Osiris, Peekachu and Rain—died in August and September at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

Another one, Jelly Bean, died in September at Oceanogràfic València in Spain. Post-mortem examinations of Rain and Peekachu found that the animals had chronic inflammatory disease in their gastrointestinal systems, which likely began long before they arrived at Shedd, according to a September 25 statement. Peekachu also had foreign objects, including bird feathers, sticks and large, porous rocks, in her stomach, which she probably ingested before the move.

Rain appears to have eaten flecks of paint. Shedd will conduct a similar analysis on Osiris in the coming days to better understand her death. She was a whale of “clinical concern” throughout her time at the aquarium, according to a September 21 statement.

Need to know: Other facilities that welcomed whales Besides Shedd and Oceanogràfic València, some of the whales went to SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld San Diego and the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. Animal rights advocates argue that more could have been done to prevent the cetaceans’ deaths. Experts should have been able to detect whether the whales were healthy enough for the transfers beforehand, says Camille Labchuk, executive director of the Canadian nonprofit Animal Justice, to Carly Thomas at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News.

Veterinarians and other specialists from the facilities that planned to welcome the whales visited Marineland earlier this year to assess the animals prior to their moves, Tumin reported for the Times in July. At the time, they were found to be in good health, said Todd Robeck, vice president for conservation and animal health at SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, which took some of the animals. Still, Marineland had been plagued with multiple allegations of cruelty and neglect.