🔗 Share this article

Jelly Bean’s daughter Bertie Botts is an charming little “ham sandwich”. The whale Orion – called “Onion” – is a big but fiercely protective friend. Another whale, Zephyr has “endless energy” and wiggles like a wiggly creature. Lillooet the beluga is the “most affectionate” with a kind nature.

Thirty captive marine mammals in a Canadian entertainment facility have been caught in a struggle between a shuttered park, local and national governments and advocacy groups.

But those working directly with the whales say the intense debate over their future often ignores the individual traits of the whales who, after growing up in confinement, have been thoroughly researched by the people who interact with them daily.

After the federal government prevented the transfer of the belugas to China, the controversial facility near the famous falls where they are housed stated it would consider to euthanize them unless the federal government pays for the upkeep of keeping them alive. The nation’s marine resources official has denied that ultimatum, placing the thirty whales in an dangerously unstable situation.

Highly Cognitive Marine Mammals

Experts say that belugas’ neuroanatomy, along with their sound replication, intellectual tasks and communal behavior indicate they are remarkably smart animals – something Kristy Burgess learned first-hand.

She spent three years as a marine mammal specialist, a position that entailed gaining confidence of the aquatic animals.

“Building up those relationships over time takes a lot of dedication and a lot of affection. At the outset, they’re very wary of you,” she said. “Eventually, you gain mutual trust. And they start being more open with you. It’s just so extraordinary and fulfilling.”

Burgess knew the whales were very smart, but she says she was nonetheless astounded by the subtleties and quirks in their personalities. She cultivated a particular love for Eve and Cleopatra with different natures.

“Eve chose me. Cleo made me earn it,” she said. “They changed the way I perceive relationships.”

Growing Opposition and Deteriorating Conditions

Burgess’s relationship with the whales progressed against a context of rising activist criticism to their enclosure.

During her tenure at the facility, multiple belugas and the park’s one orca, Kiska, died. In all, nineteen belugas have died at the park since recent years, a toll which the park ascribes to natural mortality, but which campaigners say reflects the poor conditions in which they were kept.

The facility did not operate to the public over the recent season, but the former trainer says she witnessed firsthand consequences of the shutdown. “Concrete is breaking off from the tanks because they’re falling apart and not being repaired. The whales are curious and so they grab fragments and navigate with pieces in their jaws. It’s heartbreaking to see.”

The facility did not reply to a questionnaire, but earlier asserted: “The whales … get far higher quality health care and around the clock attention than any human in the United Kingdom, or elsewhere.”

Uncertain Future and Proposed Solutions

The former employee was fired from the park in recent months following the passing of a beluga, an ailing beluga the park staff had to put down. She said the park believed information of the incident were shared to the press and she was let go not long after.

The lack of clarity over the whales’ fate has left her and staff members in distress. She says the facility’s ultimatum to end the lives of its whales is a bargaining chip and is a “practically unfeasible” endeavor, adding any plans to euthanize even a single beluga would require “immense personnel”, vehicles and machinery.

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

Burgess advocates for requests for the whales to be removed right away from the facility, with its crumbling tanks and dwindling staff.

In the autumn, the nation’s fisheries minister denied a bid to export the whales to China.

“To approve the application would have meant a continued life in confinement and a return to performance for audiences,” the official stated. “As Canadians, we know that whales are meant for the ocean, not in tanks for our entertainment. I could not in clear conscience approve an export that would perpetuate the situation these belugas have experienced.”

But Burgess said the official’s comments reveal a more general misunderstanding of the realities of life for belugas living their whole lives in enclosures.

“The public needs to realize these are whales that have spent their whole lives in captivity and they will need ongoing assistance for the rest of their years,” she said. “The public just don’t comprehend that it’s not as straightforward as saying ‘end operations’.”

Alternative Habitat and Ongoing Debate

As officials attempt to find a answer, suggestions have surfaced, some of which have questionable practicality. An idea called for the belugas to be freed into the natural habitat of the Arctic – where whales are a primary resource of food for Indigenous peoples.

A planned refuge in the region of Nova Scotia, which has received regulatory clearance, has shown to be contentious. The prospective site, which includes a large area of penned in ocean, doesn’t yet exist. Advocates remain positive that it could ultimately represent a long term answer for some of the whales.

But, the former trainer says, among trainers she’s consulted, there is “doubts there” about what she said is “only an experiment” in the whales’ well-being.

Others say the idea of a sanctuary represents a worldwide trend away from animal displays and could represent a viable approach in the short term.

An official, leader of the sanctuary project, said the facility will replicate the mental engagement and nutrition the whales obtain from trainers, albeit in a much larger area. He said after the well-being of whales is completely examined, which could take months|an extended period|