🔗 Share this article

The beluga known as Jelly Bean’s daughter Bertie is an adorable small “sweetheart”. The whale Orion – nicknamed “Onion Ring” – is a big but fiercely protective companion. Another whale, Zephyr has “constant motion” and sways like a wiggly creature. Lillooet is the “loving presence” with a kind nature.

A group of thirty enclosed beluga whales in a Canadian entertainment facility have become pawns in a struggle between a defunct facility, public officials and welfare campaigners.

But those closest to the whales say the heated discussion over their destiny often overlooks the nuances of the whales who, after living their entire lives in enclosed habitats, have been carefully observed by the people who interact with them daily.

After the national authorities prevented the export of the belugas to China, the embattled facility near Niagara Falls where they are kept warned to euthanize them unless the federal government covers the cost of their care. Canada’s marine resources official has rejected that ultimatum, placing the 30 whales in an increasingly precarious situation.

Highly Cognitive Marine Mammals

Experts say that beluga whales’ brain structure, along with their vocal imitation skills, intellectual tasks and social skills suggest they are deeply intelligent creatures – something Kristy Burgess learned directly.

Burgess spent several years as a beluga trainer, a job that involved building relationships of the marine predators.

“Establishing those connections over time takes a lot of dedication and a lot of love. At the beginning, they’re very wary of you,” she said. “Eventually, you gain reciprocal understanding. And they start being more vulnerable with you. It’s just so extraordinary and fulfilling.”

The trainer knew the whales were very smart, but she says she was even so amazed by the details and idiosyncrasies in their characters. She developed a special affection for two female belugas with different natures.

“Eve selected me. Cleo demanded work,” she said. “Both changed the way I perceive bonding.”

Growing Opposition and Facility Decline

Her interaction with the whales developed against a backdrop of rising activist criticism to their confinement.

During her time at the park, seven belugas and the park’s single orca, the orca, died. In all, nineteen belugas have perished at the park since 2019, a toll which the park links to expected lifespan, but which advocates say points to the poor conditions in which they were maintained.

The park did not admit visitors to the visitors over the summer, but Burgess says she witnessed firsthand consequences of the closure. “Concrete is deteriorating from the tanks because they’re falling apart and not being repaired. The whales are exploratory and so they grab fragments and navigate with pieces in their jaws. It’s upsetting to see.”

The park did not comment to a inquiry, but previously asserted: “The whales … get far higher quality medical attention and constant attention than any human in the Britain, or other places.”

Uncertain Future and Proposed Solutions

The former employee was terminated from the park in early March following the demise of Eos, an unwell beluga the employees had to put down. She said the park believed information 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 other caretakers in distress. She says the facility’s ultimatum to euthanize its whales is a negotiation tactic and is a “extremely difficult” endeavor, adding any efforts to humanely kill even a one beluga would require “considerable manpower”, vehicles and heavy equipment.

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

Burgess backs requests for the whales to be removed right away from the facility, with its deteriorating pools and shrinking team.

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

“Allowing the application would have meant a continued life in enclosure and a reversion to performance for audiences,” the official wrote. “As Canadians, we know that whales belong in the sea, not in enclosures for our entertainment. I could not in clear conscience authorize an relocation that would prolong the conditions these belugas have suffered.”

But the former trainer said the official’s remarks indicate a wider lack of awareness of the realities of life for belugas raised in confinement.

“The public needs to understand these are whales that have lived entirely in confinement and they will need constant supervision for the remainder of their lives,” she said. “The public just don’t understand that it’s not as simple as saying ‘shut it down’.”

Sanctuary Proposal and Continuing Discussion

As officials work to find a solution, ideas have emerged, some of which have questionable practicality. An idea called for the belugas to be let go into the open waters of the Arctic – where whales are a important part of sustenance for Inuit communities.

A planned sanctuary in the province of Nova Scotia, which has received government approval, has proven highly debated. The prospective site, which includes 100 acres of protected cove, is not yet built. Proponents remain positive that it could in time represent a long term answer for a number of the whales.

But, Burgess says, among trainers she’s spoken with, there is “no trust there” about what she said is “only an trial” in the whales’ fate.

Different voices say the prospect of a protected habitat indicates a changing attitudes away from captive facilities and could represent a viable approach in the short term.

An official, director of the sanctuary project, said the facility will replicate the intellectual stimulation and diet the whales obtain from trainers, albeit in a much larger area. He said after the well-being of whales is fully assessed, which could take months|an extended period|