Officials issue update on 30 beluga whales living in abandoned theme park since 2024
A pod of beluga whales trapped at a theme park in Canada are set to be moved away to safety.
The 30 whales have been stuck at the theme park since 2024, raising difficult questions about their future after Marineland park closed due to money issues.
Prior to this the park had also been subject to concerns about the quality of care which was being provided to the belugas.
Sadly, if a new home could not be found for the whales then authorities were being forced to consider the sad option that they would need to be euthanised, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
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Now, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has confirmed that a life-saving plan has been green-lit which will prevent this from happening.
This will see the trapped belugas transported to other aquariums and marine parks in the US.
In a statement, a representative of the American aquarium consortium said: “This rescue effort will take several weeks to mobilize and complete, and the comfort and safety of the whales remains of the utmost importance."
At present, the plan is that the whales will separated out between five different accredited aquariums.
Out of the 30 whales, 28 will be split across four locations in the US, including the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, then SeaWorlds in San Diego and San Antonio.
The remaining two whales will be taken by Oceanogràfic València in Spain.
However, before they can be transported the whales will need to have health checks and be signed off by vets in Canada.
Prior to setting off, there will also be staff from the aquariums based in the US who will examine the whales to check their wellbeing.
A spokesperson for the 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."
Reports about the Marineland park had claimed taht twenty whales died there since 2019.
The Canadian government had previously denied Marineland permission for the whales to be taken to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in China.
Joanne Thompson is the Canadian minister for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and said that the decision to deny the request had been made in accordance with a 2019 law that prohibited whales and dolphins to be used for entertainment and to be kept in captivity for entertainment purposes.
The park had been at the centre of a row over the whales after it warned the Canadian government that it would euthanise the whales in a letter, even saying would be 'a direct consequence of the minister’s decision.'
At the time animal rights groups responded to the threats with anger, with Toronto-based animal welfare adviser at World Animal Protection telling the New York Times: "Threatening to kill all their animals if they don’t get emergency funding is just repugnant.
"We need to take comfort that this is the last generation of whales and dolphins that will ever have to suffer again in Canada."
Topics: World News, Animals
Kit Roberts