🔗 Share this article

The beluga known as Jelly Bean’s offspring Bertie is an cute small “playful character”. The whale Orion – called “Onion” – is a big but fiercely protective friend. Another whale, Zephyr has “endless energy” and wiggles like a worm. Lillooet is the “loving presence” with a kind nature.

Thirty captive marine mammals in a Canada-based entertainment facility have been entangled in a disagreement between a shuttered park, local and national governments and animal rights activists.

But those working directly with the whales say the impassioned controversy over their fate often fails to consider the nuances of the whales who, after growing up in enclosed habitats, have been thoroughly researched by the humans who see them each day.

After the Canadian government disallowed the export of the belugas to a foreign facility, the controversial attraction near the famous falls where they are kept threatened to euthanize them unless the government funds the expense of their care. The nation’s marine resources official has rejected that ultimatum, placing the thirty whales in an ever more uncertain situation.

Highly Cognitive Sea Creatures

Experts say that beluga whales’ brain structure, along with their sound replication, intellectual tasks and social skills point to they are highly cognitive mammals – something Kristy Burgess observed personally.

Burgess spent a significant period as a marine mammal specialist, a position that entailed earning the trust of the aquatic animals.

“Building up those relationships over time takes a lot of regularity and a lot of care. At the beginning, they’re very cautious of you,” she said. “Over time, you gain mutual trust. And they start being more trusting with you. It’s just so wonderful and gratifying.”

Burgess knew the whales were very smart, but she says she was even so amazed by the details and idiosyncrasies in their characters. She developed a special affection for Eve and Cleopatra with opposing personalities.

“One whale chose me. The other made me earn it,” she said. “Each transformed the way I perceive relationships.”

Growing Opposition and Facility Decline

Her connection with the whales progressed against a backdrop of increasing societal concern to their enclosure.

During her time at the facility, multiple belugas and the park’s single killer whale, Kiska, succumbed. In all, 19 belugas have died at the park since 2019, a number which the park attributes to age-related causes, but which campaigners say points to the inadequate care in which they were housed.

The facility did not open to the visitors over the summer, but Burgess says she saw with her own eyes results of the shutdown. “Concrete is breaking off from the enclosures because they’re degrading and not being fixed. The whales are curious and so they grab fragments and swim around with pieces in their jaws. It’s heartbreaking to see.”

The park did not respond to a questionnaire, but earlier claimed: “The whales … obtain far superior health care and 24/7 supervision than any individual in the Britain, or elsewhere.”

Uncertain Future and Proposed Solutions

The former employee was dismissed from the park in early March following the death of a beluga, an ailing beluga the caretakers had to put down. She said the park thought information of the death were leaked to the news outlets and she was fired soon after.

The lack of clarity over the whales’ future has left Burgess and staff members in anguish. She says the park’s warning to euthanize its whales is a leverage tool and is a “practically unfeasible” undertaking, adding any plans to humanely kill even a one beluga would require “immense personnel”, vehicles and heavy equipment.

“There’s no way in hell the employees would ever do it,” she said.

Burgess supports calls for the whales to be taken right away from the park, with its deteriorating pools and dwindling staff.

In late September, the nation’s fisheries minister rejected a bid to export the whales to China.

“To approve the request would have meant a perpetual life in enclosure and a reversion to performance for audiences,” the minister wrote. “As society, we know that whales should be in the wild, not in enclosures for our amusement. I could not in clear conscience approve an export that would prolong the treatment these belugas have experienced.”

But Burgess said the official’s statements reveal a wider misunderstanding of the facts of life for belugas living their whole lives in enclosures.

“The people needs to understand these are whales that have spent their whole lives in confinement 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 easy as saying ‘end operations’.”

Alternative Habitat and Ongoing Debate

As authorities struggle to find a solution, proposals have been put forward, some of which have minimal feasibility. One proposal called for the belugas to be freed into the open waters of northern regions – where whales are a primary resource of food for Inuit communities.

A planned protected area in the province of Nova Scotia, which recently received government approval, has proven highly debated. The future location, which includes a large area of protected cove, is not yet built. Proponents remain hopeful that it could eventually represent a long term answer for a number of the whales.

But, the former trainer says, among caretakers she’s spoken with, there is “doubts there” about what she said is “simply an experiment” in the whales’ well-being.

Some experts say the prospect of a protected habitat reflects a changing attitudes away from zoos and aquariums and could represent a feasible plan in the coming months.

Charles Vinick, leader of the plan, said the facility will simulate the intellectual stimulation and feeding regimen the whales get from caretakers, albeit in a more expansive area. He said after the well-being of whales is completely examined, which could take months|an extended period|