Two more belugas die at Chicago aquarium

Two additional beluga whales have died at Shedd Aquarium, the facility shared late Wednesday.

The announcement comes just over a week after the death of another member of Shedd’s recently expanded beluga pod, 23-year-old Peekachu.

Beethoven, a 34-year-old male beluga, and 20-year-old female Rain died Wednesday afternoon despite immediate efforts by animal care and veterinary teams to provide lifesaving measures, Shedd said in an emailed statement Wednesday night.

“Losing any animal is extraordinarily difficult,” Andrew Pulver, vice president of animal care at Shedd, said in a blog post on the aquarium’s website. “Losing Beethoven and Rain so soon after Peekachu carries a profound weight for the people who knew and cared for them.”

Rain arrived at Shedd in mid-August as part of the aquarium’s recent international rescue effort. She was one of 10 belugas brought to Shedd this summer from Marineland of Canada, a closed marine park in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The park’s owners threatened to euthanize 30 whales, according to a previous Shedd news release. Peekachu had also hailed from Marineland.

Beethoven was part of Shedd’s resident beluga pod. He was “deeply known” at Shedd, Pulver said in his blog post. He was the older adult male in the pod and the second-largest beluga at Shedd, at approximately 14 feet long and 1,900 pounds.

“Over more than three decades, generations of guests learned about belugas and wildlife through a connection with Beethoven,” Pulver wrote.

Of Rain, Pulver wrote: “(She) was only beginning her story here.”

“At this time,” Shedd said Wednesday, “it’s impossible to know if these passings are isolated or related.”

Shedd is among at least six aquariums, based in the United States and Spain, to rescue the 30 whales who formerly resided at Marineland. The process to rehome the whales took six weeks and precise coordination between the accepting facilities. At Shedd, the whales arrived by truck and a Boeing 777 airliner in three waves.

The first four belugas arrived at Shedd in mid-July. A second wave, which included Peekachu and Rain, arrived nearly a month later. Shedd announced that Peekachu died in the care of Shedd veterinarians Aug. 25. She was blind in one eye but had little trouble socializing, according to the aquarium.

The final pair arrived Tuesday.

Before the loss of Rain and Beethoven, Shedd had been housing 17 beluga whales in total, eight from the aquarium’s existing pod plus nine new arrivals. On Tuesday, Shedd officials stated that the last arrivals marked the beginning of a “much larger responsibility” of caring for the animals’ well-being.

Losing Rain and Beethoven, the aquarium said, is hard, “made more difficult by the fact that it will take time to get concrete answers about what led to their passings.”

Necropsies, blood tests and additional exams are underway to help better understand what happened, according to Shedd. Some answers may come quickly, officials say, while others may take more time.

“What remains clear is why the rescue was necessary: 30 belugas needed help and had nowhere else to go,” the aquarium stated. “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.”

Shedd said it will continue to “monitor, evaluate and care for the entire beluga population around the clock in the days and weeks that follow.”

Chicago Tribune’s Finnegan Belleau and Allison Kiehl contributed.

tkenny@chicagotribune.com