🔗 Share this article

The beluga known as Jelly Bean’s offspring Bertie Botts is an cute little “playful character”. Orion – nicknamed “Onion” – is a big but guardian-like companion. Another whale, Zephyr has “endless energy” and sways like a wiggly creature. Lillooet is the “loving presence” with a kind nature.

Thirty enclosed beluga whales in a Canada-based amusement park have been entangled in a disagreement between a defunct facility, government authorities and animal rights activists.

But those closest to the whales say the intense controversy over their destiny often fails to consider the nuances of the whales who, after living their entire lives in confinement, have been thoroughly researched by the humans who see them each day.

After the Canadian government disallowed the transfer of the belugas to China, the controversial amusement park near Niagara Falls where they are kept warned to put them down unless the federal government covers the expense of their care. Canada’s fisheries minister has refused that request, placing the thirty whales in an dangerously unstable situation.

Highly Cognitive Marine Mammals

Researchers say that belugas’ neuroanatomy, along with their mimicry abilities, intellectual tasks and group interactions suggest they are remarkably smart creatures – something Kristy Burgess discovered directly.

Burgess spent several years as a whale caretaker, a role that involved earning the trust of the marine predators.

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

Burgess knew the whales were very smart, but she says she was nevertheless astounded by the details and quirks in their dispositions. She developed a deep bond for two female belugas with contrasting natures.

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

Public Concerns and Facility Decline

Her interaction with the whales evolved against a background of increasing societal concern to their confinement.

During her time at the facility, seven belugas and the park’s single killer whale, the orca, succumbed. In total, 19 belugas have died at the park since 2019, a toll which the park ascribes to age-related causes, but which advocates say points to the substandard environment in which they were kept.

The park did not open to the public over the recent season, but Burgess says she saw with her own eyes consequences of the shutdown. “Structural materials is breaking off from the enclosures because they’re in disrepair and not being maintained. The whales are inquisitive and so they pick it up and navigate with chunks in their mouth. It’s distressing to see.”

The facility did not respond to a questionnaire, but in the past claimed: “The whales … get far higher quality health care and around the clock supervision than any person in the Britain, or anywhere else.”

Fate in Limbo and Proposed Solutions

The former employee was fired from the park in early March following the demise of Eos, an unwell beluga the employees had to euthanize. She said the facility suspected details of the death were shared to the news outlets and she was fired shortly thereafter.

The ambiguity over the whales’ fate has left Burgess and staff members in distress. She says the park’s warning to end the lives of its whales is a bargaining chip and is a “practically unfeasible” endeavor, adding any plans to put down even a one beluga would require “significant personnel”, vehicles and specialized tools.

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

She backs calls for the whales to be transferred right away from the facility, with its crumbling tanks and dwindling staff.

In late September, the nation’s government official denied a bid to transfer the whales to China.

“Allowing the request would have meant a ongoing existence in captivity and a reversion to display for amusement,” the minister wrote. “As Canadians, we know that whales are meant for the wild, not in tanks for our amusement. I could not in good conscience approve an export that would perpetuate the treatment these belugas have experienced.”

But the former trainer said the minister’s comments indicate a broader lack of awareness of the circumstances of existence for belugas born in captivity.

“The people needs to realize these are whales that have lived entirely in captivity and they will need human care for the remainder of their lives,” she said. “People just don’t understand that it’s not as straightforward as saying ‘end operations’.”

Alternative Habitat and Continuing Discussion

As authorities work to find a answer, ideas have emerged, some of which have little basis in reality. A suggested plan called for the belugas to be released into the natural habitat of Canada’s north – where whales are a important part of food for Inuit communities.

A suggested protected area in the region of Nova Scotia, which recently received government approval, has been contentious. The future location, which includes 100 acres of penned in ocean, doesn’t yet exist. Supporters remain hopeful that it could in time represent a sustainable resolution for a number of the whales.

But, Burgess says, among trainers she’s discussed with, there is “skepticism there” about what she said is “only an untested concept” in the whales’ fate.

Some experts say the idea of a sanctuary represents a changing attitudes away from captive facilities and could represent a viable plan in the near future.

An official, leader of the sanctuary project, said the location will simulate the cognitive activities and nutrition the whales get from specialists, albeit in a significantly bigger space. He said after the well-being of whales is fully assessed, which could take months|an extended period|