🔗 Share this article

The beluga known as Jelly Bean’s offspring Bertie is an adorable little “sweetheart”. The whale Orion – called “Onion Ring” – is a large but guardian-like companion. Zephyr has “ants in his pants” and wiggles like a wiggly creature. Lillooet is the “biggest cuddle bug” with a kind nature.

A group of thirty captive marine mammals in a Canada-based amusement park have become pawns in a struggle between a shuttered park, local and national governments and advocacy groups.

But those most familiar with the whales say the impassioned debate over their fate often fails to consider the complexities of the whales who, after growing up in captivity, have been thoroughly researched by the caretakers who work with them regularly.

After the federal government blocked the export of the belugas to a foreign facility, the struggling amusement park near the famous falls where they are housed warned to end their lives unless the federal government funds the expense of keeping them alive. Canada’s fisheries minister has refused that demand, placing the thirty whales in an dangerously unstable circumstance.

Highly Cognitive Sea Creatures

Experts say that beluga whales’ neural makeup, along with their vocal imitation skills, cognitive challenges and communal behavior suggest they are highly cognitive mammals – something one caretaker discovered directly.

She spent several years as a marine mammal specialist, a position that involved gaining confidence of the sea creatures.

“Developing those bonds over time takes a lot of regularity and a lot of care. At the outset, they’re very wary of you,” she said. “In time, you gain reciprocal understanding. And they start being more open with you. It’s just so extraordinary and gratifying.”

The trainer knew the whales were highly intelligent, but she says she was nevertheless astounded by the subtleties and idiosyncrasies in their personalities. She cultivated a particular love for two female belugas with opposing personalities.

“Eve chose me. Cleo made me earn it,” she said. “Both transformed the way I perceive connection.”

Growing Opposition and Facility Decline

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

During her three years at the facility, multiple belugas and the park’s one orca, the orca, died. In total, 19 belugas have perished at the park since recent years, a toll which the park links to expected lifespan, but which campaigners say reflects the substandard environment in which they were maintained.

The facility did not admit visitors to the public over the summer, but the former trainer says she observed directly effects of the shutdown. “Concrete is breaking off from the tanks because they’re degrading and not being repaired. The whales are exploratory and so they pick it up and swim around with fragments in their jaws. It’s upsetting to see.”

The park did not respond to a request for comment, but in the past stated: “The whales … receive far better health care and constant care than any human in the UK, or elsewhere.”

Fate in Limbo and Potential Resolutions

The former employee was dismissed from the facility in the spring following the passing of Eos, an unwell beluga the employees had to euthanize. She said the park suspected information of the death were leaked to the media and she was let go not long after.

The uncertainty over the whales’ fate has left her and staff members in despair. She says the park’s ultimatum to euthanize its whales is a leverage tool and is a “logistically impossible” undertaking, adding any efforts to put down even a one beluga would require “immense staff”, trucks and heavy equipment.

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

She supports calls for the whales to be taken promptly from the park, with its failing enclosures and dwindling staff.

In recent months, the nation’s fisheries minister turned down a proposal to transfer the whales to an overseas location.

“Allowing the proposal would have meant a perpetual existence in confinement and a reversion to performance for audiences,” the official commented. “As society, we know that whales are meant for the wild, not in tanks for our amusement. I could not in clear conscience authorize an export that would prolong the situation these belugas have experienced.”

But Burgess said the official’s comments indicate a broader incorrect perception of the facts of existence for belugas living their whole lives in enclosures.

“The people needs to grasp these are whales that have spent their whole lives in confinement and they will need ongoing assistance for the rest of their years,” she said. “Many just don’t understand that it’s not as simple as saying ‘close it down’.”

Alternative Habitat and Continuing Discussion

As authorities attempt to find a answer, suggestions have surfaced, some of which have questionable practicality. An idea called for the belugas to be freed into the wilds of Canada’s north – where whales are a key source of nourishment for Indigenous peoples.

A planned protected area in the province of Nova Scotia, which has received official endorsement, has shown to be highly debated. The planned facility, which includes 100 acres of penned in ocean, doesn’t yet exist. Proponents remain hopeful that it could in time represent a sustainable answer for eight of the whales.

But, Burgess says, among trainers she’s discussed with, there is “doubts there” about what she said is “merely an trial” in the whales’ future.

Others say the idea of a refuge indicates a worldwide trend away from captive facilities and could represent a workable solution in the coming months.

An official, head of the plan, said the location will replicate the cognitive activities and diet the whales obtain from specialists, albeit in a significantly bigger space. He said after the medical condition of whales is completely examined, which could take months|an extended period|