{"id":399028,"date":"2026-07-15T07:08:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T07:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/399028\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T07:08:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T07:08:43","slug":"seaworld-steps-in-to-save-marineland-whales-at-risk-of-being-euthanized-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/399028\/","title":{"rendered":"SeaWorld steps in to save Marineland whales at risk of being euthanized \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

SeaWorld San Diego is among several marine parks and aquariums that have stepped up to care for 28 beluga whales currently being held at Marineland, a Canadian theme park that has been shuttered for two years.<\/p>\n

Urgently in need of medical care and attention, they face euthanasia if relocation is not possible.<\/p>\n

The rescue effort was made possible by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which has entered into an agreement with the San Diego park, SeaWorld San Antonio, the John G. Shedd Aquarium and Georgia Aquarium, for the transport of the whales to their new homes.<\/p>\n

The agency, in a letter last month to the SeaWorld parks and the two aquariums, pointed out that Marineland is no longer financially able to care for the whales and will be forced to euthanize them if an intervention or relocation is not possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour facilities in the United States are among the few available to transport and hold these beluga whales immediately and can provide the necessary medical care for these animals,\u201d states the letter from NOAA.<\/p>\n

Relocating them elsewhere in Canada was not an option, according to SeaWorld and its aquarium partners. There are no facilities within Canada able to receive and manage the more than two dozen stranded whales, they said. \u201cAccordingly, Canada\u2019s Fisheries Minister has approved the export of these belugas to suitably accredited marine life parks and aquariums in the United States,\u201d stated a letter last month seeking emergency authority to import the whales to the U.S.<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis aerial view shows various belugas in at the now closed Artic Cove exhibit, at Marineland, in Niagara Falls, Canada, on November 13, 2025. (Daphn\u00e9 LEMELIN \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

SeaWorld San Diego said this week that it is not granting interviews at this time about the rescue. However, Eric Otjen, vice president of zoological operations at the San Diego park, described the importance of the rescue in a social media post, stating that the whales are in need of\u00a0 \u201cexperienced animal care teams, veterinarians, and specialized facilities equipped to meet their needs.\u201d He added that the rescue effort will be complex, but \u201cby combining our expertise and resources, we help facilitate rescues and provide the highest standard of care no matter the species.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cooperative agreement signed off on by NOAA and the accredited parks and aquariums includes a list of the whales to be rescued, ranging in age from 6 years to 32, many of whom were born at the Marineland park in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Many others, however, are listed as having been \u201cwild caught\u201d in Russia.<\/p>\n

The three whales designated for relocation to San Diego are males, all born at Marineland. They\u2019re identified as Xavier, 13 years old, and Cyprus and Jasper, both 9 years of age. The SeaWorld park in Texas is expected to take in up to 13 of the whales, and the remainder will go to the two aquariums.<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement provided collectively by SeaWorld and the two aquariums, they pointed out that Oceanogr\u00e0fic Val\u00e8ncia \u2014 an aquarium in Spain \u2014 has also offered to take in some of the whales but is still awaiting approval by the Spanish government. Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, the group added, will not be taking any Marineland whales, but has said it will provide additional capacity and support for \u201cwhat will be a remarkably complex rescue operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unknown at this time when the transfer will take place, in part, because veterinarians first have to assess the health of the whales in Canada. In a recent Facebook post, SeaWorld provided a sense of the timeline, explaining that in the coming weeks, teams will travel to Marineland to examine the whales and prepare them for travel. Once cleared for being moved, aquarium experts will accompany the whales to their new homes, SeaWorld said.<\/p>\n

The agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration does come with some special conditions governing the public display of the whales once they\u2019ve been relocated.<\/p>\n

Any display, states the agreement, \u201cmust include an educational component that informs the public of the status of the species under the MMPA ( Marine Mammal Protection Act) and provides information regarding the natural history, distribution, population status and threats to the species.\u201d Further, the beluga whales \u201cmust not be trained for performance or included in any interactive program with the public (e.g., where the public touches, feeds or is photographed with such beluga whales)\u201d unless approval is granted by NOAA.<\/p>\n

\"SeaWorldSeaWorld San Diego’s beluga whales. From left to right are Klondike, Allua, and Oliver. (SeaWorld San Diego)<\/p>\n

SeaWorld San Diego\u2019s beluga whales. From left to right are Klondike, Allua and Oliver. (SeaWorld San Diego)SeaWorld San Diego currently houses three belugas, ages 42, 24 and 19. The park does have what it calls a beluga up-close encounter program in which the park\u2019s animal care specialists take guests behind the scenes and guide them through a hands-on experience that includes hand-feeding a beluga. The per-person cost of the behind-the-scenes program starts at $99.99.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SeaWorld San Diego is among several marine parks and aquariums that have stepped up to care for 28…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[387,181,74,76,75,1696,5277],"class_list":["post-399028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-business","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}