{"id":476418,"date":"2026-06-04T19:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/476418\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T19:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:48:08","slug":"canada-endorses-embattled-marine-parks-plan-to-relocate-30-beluga-whales-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/476418\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada endorses embattled marine park\u2019s plan to relocate 30 beluga whales | Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada<\/a> and an embattled marine park have reached a tentative deal on the future of 30 beluga whales<\/a>, ending a saga<\/a> that has captivated the public and angered animal rights groups.<\/p>\n

The federal fisheries ministry announced this week that all of Marineland\u2019s belugas would be shipped to either Spain or one of four locations in the US<\/a>, ending whale captivity in Canada.<\/p>\n

The federal government and Marineland<\/a>, which effectively closed to visitors in 2024, have battled for months over the future of the whales. At one point, Marineland threatened to euthanize<\/a> the belugas after Canada\u2019s fisheries minister blocked<\/a> their sale to China.<\/p>\n

While permits still have to be finalized, a clear rescue plan has finally taken shape.<\/p>\n

Oceanogr\u00e0fic Val\u00e8ncia, one of Europe\u2019s largest aquariums, has offered to take some of the whales. A consortium of American aquariums in Georgia, Chicago, San Diego and San Antonio have also agreed to take them \u2013 although a spokesperson for the group said there was \u201cno definite timeline\u201d for the rescue, but that it could unfold over \u201cmatter of weeks\u201d.<\/p>\n

Advocacy groups say the move is the \u201cleast worst option\u201d for the whales.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, these animals have languished in decrepit, deteriorating tanks while Ontario\u2019s animal welfare agency failed to take meaningful action,\u201d Kaitlyn Mitchell, a lawyer at Animal Justice, said in a statement. She said Canada \u201cshould be prioritizing sending as many of the animals as possible to sanctuaries<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the decision to send the whales to aquariums in Europe and the US is a major blow to a controversial<\/a> sanctuary in Nova Scotia that had pitched itself as a new home for the cetaceans. The sanctuary also offered to host<\/a> two orcas in France, but officials later decided to send them to a Spanish zoo.<\/p>\n

Before the whales can be transported<\/a>, Canadian veterinarians will examine each whale to ensure they are healthy enough to travel. Canada\u2019s federal government only issues export permits if the move is in the best interest of the whale and the government said permits \u201cwill be issued closer to the date of transport, pending final animal health checks\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mitchell said her team was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d that the whales might not be healthy enough to travel. \u201cIndependent experts must evaluate these animals before any transfer takes place to ensure they are not being moved with pre-existing health conditions, something that occurred when Marineland previously transferred whales to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut,\u201d she said. \u201cThree<\/a> out of five of those belugas died<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada and an embattled marine park have reached a tentative deal on the future of 30 beluga whales,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-476418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}