Three beluga whales have died of unclear causes at the Shedd Aquarium in the past several days, just weeks after the institution received several rescued whales.
The two most recent beluga deaths occurred Wednesday, the aquarium said.
One whale, a 20-year-old female named Rain, had been rescued weeks earlier from a shuttered Canadian aquatic park where dozens of whales were living under allegedly poor conditions. The other, 34-year-old Beethoven, was part of Shedd’s resident beluga pod.
It’s unclear if their deaths were related, the Shedd said in a statement Thursday morning, about a week after another rescued beluga, Peekachu, also died of unknown causes on Aug. 25.
“These losses are hard, made more difficult by the fact that it will take time to get concrete answers about what led to their passings,” the Shedd said in the statement.
The aquarium said it will perform tests to learn more about why the belugas died.
“Some answers may come quickly, while others may take more time to come into focus. Given how closely the public has followed the rescue effort, Shedd felt it was important to share this news now rather than wait for every answer,” the statement reads.
Shedd had a similar response last week, after Peekachu’s death, noting at the time that the whale was not “consistently eating her full diet. When we looked at the blood values, we were concerned that she was dehydrated and needed supportive care.”
A cause of death for Peekachu had not been released as of Thursday.
Shedd is part of a consortium of four U.S. and one Spanish aquarium that together agreed to take 30 belugas languishing in Marineland, located in Niagara Falls, Canada. Marineland had faced criticism for years that its animals were living in unsanitary conditions.
The park closed to the public in 2024, and Marineland officials, citing extreme financial difficulties, had threatened to euthanize the whales if permanent homes couldn’t be found.
Shedd received 10 Marineland belugas, more than doubling their resident population.
The Marineland belugas “had nowhere else to go,” the Shedd said in its statement. “Shedd and accredited partners were asked to step in. Helping these animals in need is part of Shedd’s responsibility, and our commitment to these whales and their second chance remains unchanged. We appreciate the outpouring of support from so many others who are equally committed to animal welfare.”
Animal rights activists, while relieved that the whales are no longer at Marineland, have expressed concerns that the rescued belugas might be bred — leading to more cetaceans living in captivity. They’ve also said the Marineland belugas are likely sick and transporting them in trucks and airplanes could make them more so.
“The deaths of Peekachu and Rain bring up very serious questions about their health status prior to being transferred to Shedd and the judgement used in that decision,” said Lori Marino, co-founder and president of the planned Whale Sanctuary Project in Port Hilford Bay, Nova Scotia. “There has been no transparency on this issue from Marineland, and we need to know who made the decision to move these animals now and why. The death of Beethoven is very concerning because he was already at Shedd. So there have been three sudden unexplained deaths within one week at Shedd. This leaves open the possibility that either the deaths were caused by stress or some kind of pathogen or both.”
Andrew Burns, a longtime adviser and lawyer for Marineland, told the Sun-Times Thursday that “We have absolute faith in Shedd’s abilities and reputation to do everything possible” for the Marineland belugas.
Burns, asked about the health of the whales that ended up at Shedd, said: “I don’t have details on individual records of whale health. All whales were fit to transport and certificates were provided.”