TORONTO—A fourth whale death connected to the mass Marineland transfer comes as deeply saddening news. It’s yet another tragedy demonstrating that the rushed plan to relocate the disgraced Niagara Falls aquarium’s surviving beluga whales to meet an arbitrary deadline lacked adequate regulatory scrutiny.
On Monday, Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium confirmed that another whale transported from Marineland died: 26-year-old Osiris, who was captured near Russia in 2003. Her death comes just days after the death of 19-year-old Marineland beluga Jelly Bean was reported at Oceanogràfic València in Spain.
Peekachu, 23, and Rain, 20, have also died since arriving at the Shedd from Marineland this summer. Beethoven, 34, a longtime resident beluga at the Shedd, died the same day as Rain. The aquarium has said it’s not yet known if the deaths were connected.
In total, 30 beluga whales were part of a rushed mass export to aquariums in the US and Spain after Marineland threatened to kill them all, clearing the way for a real estate deal potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
“The narrative that there was no choice but to move these sensitive, highly intelligent animals within an irresponsibly short timeline is false. Marineland’s ownership wanted to unlock the massive real estate wealth that lies beneath its decrepit water tanks, and these unfortunate souls were standing in the way,” said Camille Labchuk, lawyer and executive director of Animal Justice, Canada’s leading animal law organization.
The grim outcome of a 2021 transfer of five Marineland belugas to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, where three died—a 60% death rate—provided ample warning of the risks involved in such moves. And while Canada’s Fisheries Minister has repeatedly stated that the health of the animals would be assessed by independent experts before export permits were issued, to date no information about those assessments has been released publicly.
“Rather than dealing with the complexities of a more patient, truly welfare-centred approach to relocating its whales, Marineland chose to wash its hands of its responsibility to them, potentially off-shoring a mass killing in the process. Our government failed to step up to protect the animals when they needed it most,” said Ms. Labchuk.
No meaningful planning appears to have occurred regarding these whales’ future after monumental legislation passed in 2019 banning whale and dolphin captivity in Canada. With dwindling attendance at the controversial Marineland for years, it was clear the aquarium would close and the whales would need homes.
Additionally, under Ontario law, the provincial government had the authority to intervene to ensure any whales in distress received appropriate care and that Marineland’s ownership footed the bill.
“These belugas were treated as a jurisdictional hot potato by both levels of government—each of which had a moral obligation to find the best way forward for these whales who have already endured so much. Instead, an absolutely reckless plan was allowed to proceed,” said Ms. Labchuk.
“Meanwhile, Marineland stands to bank hundreds of millions from selling their property, while the staff at the facilities where these whales ended up are left with the heart-wrenching task of just trying to keep them alive.”
Contact: