🔗 Share this article

Jelly Bean’s daughter Bertie Botts is an charming small “playful character”. Orion – nicknamed “Onion Ring” – is a big but guardian-like friend. Another whale, Zephyr has “ants in his pants” and wiggles like a worm. Lillooet the beluga is the “biggest cuddle bug” with a gentle spirit.

A group of thirty enclosed beluga whales in a Canada-based amusement park have been caught in a struggle between a shuttered park, government authorities and welfare campaigners.

But those closest to the whales say the intense debate over their destiny often ignores the complexities of the whales who, after growing up in captivity, have been thoroughly researched by the people who work with them regularly.

After the federal government blocked the export of the belugas to a foreign facility, the embattled attraction near Niagara Falls where they are held stated it would consider to end their lives unless the authorities covers the upkeep of their survival. Canada’s fisheries minister has rejected that demand, placing the 30 whales in an dangerously unstable situation.

Highly Cognitive Marine Mammals

Scientists say that belugas’ neuroanatomy, along with their sound replication, intellectual tasks and group interactions suggest they are deeply intelligent creatures – something Kristy Burgess learned first-hand.

Burgess spent three years as a beluga trainer, a job that involved gaining confidence of the sea creatures.

“Building up those bonds over time takes a lot of consistency and a lot of care. At the start, they’re very cautious of you,” she said. “Eventually, you gain reciprocal understanding. And they start being more vulnerable with you. It’s just so extraordinary and gratifying.”

Burgess knew the whales were very smart, but she says she was even so amazed by the nuances and quirks in their characters. She formed a deep bond for two female belugas with different temperaments.

“One whale selected me. The other made me earn it,” she said. “Each altered the way I perceive bonding.”

Growing Opposition and Deteriorating Conditions

Burgess’s interaction with the whales evolved against a background of rising activist criticism to their enclosure.

During her time at the attraction, seven belugas and the park’s single orca, the orca, passed away. In all, nineteen belugas have perished at the park since recent years, a number which the park attributes to natural mortality, but which activists say points to the substandard environment in which they were housed.

The park did not operate to the visitors over the summer, but Burgess says she witnessed firsthand results of the shutdown. “Structural materials is falling apart from the enclosures because they’re degrading and not being repaired. The whales are exploratory and so they grab fragments and navigate with pieces in their mouth. It’s distressing to see.”

The facility did not comment to a request for comment, but earlier stated: “The whales … obtain far better medical attention and constant attention than any person in the Britain, or anywhere else.”

Uncertain Future and Proposed Solutions

Burgess was terminated from the park in recent months following the demise of Eos, an unwell beluga the employees had to put down. She said the facility thought information of the death were leaked to the news outlets and she was fired soon after.

The lack of clarity over the whales’ fate has left Burgess and current and former trainers in despair. She says the facility’s ultimatum to kill its whales is a leverage tool and is a “logistically impossible” task, adding any efforts to humanely kill even a one beluga would require “significant personnel”, vehicles and specialized tools.

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

Burgess supports requests for the whales to be removed immediately from the park, with its crumbling tanks and dwindling staff.

In late September, Canada’s government official rejected a bid to export the whales to an overseas location.

“Granting the request would have meant a ongoing life in confinement and a reversion to display for amusement,” the minister wrote. “As society, we know that marine mammals are meant for the sea, not in pools for our entertainment. I could not in ethical standing authorize an relocation that would continue the conditions these belugas have suffered.”

But the former trainer said the minister’s comments reveal a more general lack of awareness of the circumstances of life for belugas living their whole lives in enclosures.

“The public needs to understand these are whales that have lived entirely in captivity and they will need ongoing assistance for the rest of their years,” she said. “The public just don’t understand that it’s not as straightforward as saying ‘shut it down’.”

Alternative Habitat and Ongoing Debate

As officials work to find a solution, proposals have been put forward, some of which have questionable practicality. An idea called for the belugas to be let go into the open waters of Canada’s north – where whales are a primary resource of food for Inuit communities.

A suggested refuge in the province of eastern Canada, which recently received official endorsement, has been most controversial. The future facility, which includes a large area of penned in ocean, is not yet built. Proponents remain hopeful that it could ultimately represent a long term resolution for some of the whales.

But, Burgess says, among staff she’s consulted, there is “skepticism there” about what she said is “simply an trial” in the whales’ future.

Some experts say the idea of a refuge indicates a worldwide trend away from zoos and aquariums and could represent a viable solution in the near future.

An official, leader of the initiative, said the location will replicate the mental engagement and feeding regimen the whales receive from specialists, albeit in a much larger environment. He said after the well-being of whales is fully assessed, which could take months|an extended period|