🔗 Share this article

The beluga known as Jelly Bean’s daughter Bertie is an cute small “sweetheart”. Orion – nicknamed “Onion” – is a large but guardian-like companion. Another whale, Zephyr has “endless energy” and sways like a worm. Lillooet is the “biggest cuddle bug” with a gentle spirit.

Thirty captive beluga whales in a Canada-based entertainment facility have been caught in a struggle between a defunct facility, public officials and animal rights activists.

But those working directly with the whales say the intense debate over their future often fails to consider the complexities of the whales who, after growing up in confinement, have been thoroughly researched by the caretakers who see them each day.

After the national authorities disallowed the sale of the belugas to a foreign facility, the embattled amusement park near the famous falls where they are kept warned to end their lives unless the government funds the cost of their survival. The nation’s fisheries minister has refused that request, placing the thirty whales in an dangerously unstable position.

Intelligent Sea Creatures

Scientists say that belugas’ neuroanatomy, along with their sound replication, intellectual tasks and group interactions indicate they are highly cognitive animals – something a former trainer observed first-hand.

Burgess spent several years as a marine mammal specialist, a role that required gaining confidence of the sea creatures.

“Establishing those bonds over time takes a lot of consistency and a lot of love. At the outset, they’re very wary of you,” she said. “Over time, you gain mutual trust. And they start being more trusting with you. It’s just so wonderful and rewarding.”

Burgess knew the whales were exceptionally cognitive, but she says she was nonetheless surprised by the nuances and quirks in their characters. She developed a particular love for Eve and Cleopatra with different temperaments.

“Eve selected me. The other made me earn it,” she said. “Both altered the way I perceive bonding.”

Public Concerns and Deteriorating Conditions

Burgess’s connection with the whales developed against a backdrop of rising activist criticism to their confinement.

During her tenure at the park, seven belugas and the park’s one killer whale, Kiska, died. In all, nineteen belugas have died at the park since 2019, a number which the facility links to age-related causes, but which campaigners say points to the poor conditions in which they were housed.

The park did not admit visitors to the public over the recent season, but the former trainer says she observed directly results of the closure. “Concrete is breaking off from the pools because they’re falling apart and not being maintained. The whales are curious and so they pick it up and swim around with chunks in their jaws. It’s upsetting to see.”

The park did not comment to a request for comment, but in the past asserted: “The whales … receive far higher quality medical attention and around the clock care than any individual in the Britain, or other places.”

Fate in Limbo and Potential Resolutions

The former employee was dismissed from the facility in recent months following the death of Eos, an unwell beluga the park staff had to euthanize. She said the facility suspected details of the death were disclosed to the media and she was released not long after.

The uncertainty over the whales’ outcome 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 “practically unfeasible” endeavor, adding any plans to put down even a single beluga would require “significant staff”, trucks and specialized tools.

“It’s impossible in hell the employees would ever do it,” she said.

Burgess advocates for calls for the whales to be taken promptly from the park, with its deteriorating pools and shrinking team.

In the autumn, Canada’s fisheries minister denied a request to export the whales to an overseas location.

“Granting the request would have meant a perpetual existence in confinement and a return to public entertainment,” the minister stated. “As the public, we know that marine mammals belong in the ocean, not in pools for our entertainment. I could not in good conscience permit an relocation that would prolong the situation these belugas have suffered.”

But Burgess said the official’s remarks reveal a more general incorrect perception of the circumstances of existence for belugas raised in confinement.

“The people needs to understand these are whales that have spent their whole lives in captivity and they will need constant supervision for the rest of their years,” she said. “The public just don’t comprehend that it’s not as straightforward as saying ‘shut it down’.”

Alternative Habitat and Ongoing Debate

As officials struggle to find a answer, ideas have emerged, some of which have little basis in reality. A suggested plan called for the belugas to be let go into the open waters of Canada’s north – where whales are a key source of nourishment for local populations.

A proposed refuge in the province of Nova Scotia, which has received government approval, has been contentious. The future site, which includes extensive space of penned in ocean, doesn’t yet exist. Proponents remain optimistic that it could in time represent a long term answer for some of the whales.

But, Burgess says, among staff she’s discussed with, there is “no trust there” about what she said is “simply an untested concept” in the whales’ well-being.

Some experts say the possibility of a sanctuary indicates a changing attitudes away from captive facilities and could represent a viable approach in the short term.

An official, leader of the plan, said the facility will mimic the mental engagement and diet the whales receive from trainers, albeit in a significantly bigger area. He said after the well-being of whales is completely examined, which could take months|an extended period|