Thirty, belugas who once thrilled families with their pure white complexion and acrobatic shows, have been threatened with being put down after their park closed.
As they endlessly circle their decaying pools in Marineland, Canada, the park owners who issued a threat to euthanise them are still fighting with the government.
Before its closure last summer, the tourist park was a popular attraction for nearly 60 years for its performing captive whale and dolphin shows.
Its financial collapse was blamed on deteriorating infrastructure and declining revenue.
Now, instead of bringing joy to families, Marineland of Canada finds itself at the centre of an animal-welfare crisis.
The park had hoped to sell the belugas to a theme park in Zhuhai, China, but the federal government blocked this sale over concerns that the animals would face similarly substandard treatment as ‘public entertainment’.
Marineland of Canada then threatened that it might be forced to euthanise all of its 30 beluga whales if they did not receive emergency federal funding to cover the cost of keeping them alive.
This request was rejected.
These 30 marine animals are the world’s largest captive beluga population and the last captive cetaceans in Canada.
Despite Canada’s ban on cetacean captivity in 2019, the rule did not enforce the release or relocation of animals already in captivity – including those in Marineland.
This meant that Marineland was able to keep the animals they already owned, but they were unable to breed them.
However, now, the 30 belugas are in an increasingly precarious situation.
Phil Demers, a former Marineland trainer, said that the euthanasia threat is ‘not real.’
(Picture: Daphne Lemelin/AFP via Getty Images)
He said: ‘It’s illegal. No one’s going to ever participate in such a heinous thing.’
Instead, he insisted that the park is solely motivated by profit and wants to sell the whales.
The other suitable option would have been exporting the belugas to China.
Demers said few places in the world could accommodate multiple belugas.
‘I think the minister made a mistake in rejecting the export permits, but time will tell,’ he said.
Kristy Burgess’ first job was at Marineland before she studied and became a trainer at the park.
She said that although the wales were living in an ‘abusive’ environment, they are loved by the staff who cared for them.
‘There’s a handful of whales, three in particular, that I constantly think about and wonder how they’re doing,’ she said.
Kristy stressed that the Belugas need a decent home and that Marineland was not a solution.
There has been one promising development with a whale sanctuary site on Nova Scotia’s east coast that has been approved by the provincial government.
If the site goes ahead, it would be North America’s first coastal sanctuary for retired captive whales.
Five top Beluga facts
Belugas are nicknamed the ‘canaries of the sea’ because they whistle, chirp, click, squeak, and even mimic other sealife.
There are documented cases of belugas adopting and raising narwhal calves as their own, teaching them feeding patterns and protective behaviours.
Most whales can’t swim backwards— but belugas can reverse by flexing their powerful pectoral fins. This skill helps them carefully manoeuvre in tight, icy spaces.
Beluga calves only turn the iconic pure white after 4–8 years.
Their darker colouring helps keep them camouflaged from predators in younger life.
All toothed whales have a melon on their forehead but belugas can reshape theirs dramatically. They do this to communicate social signals, focus echolocation beams and express emotion.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.