The lease for a whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia has been approved as the fate of 30 belugas at Marineland in Ontario is still unknown.
Ontario’s Solicitor General Michael Kerzner told reporters this week that the whales should be transferred to Nova Scotia or China,
. He pushed the responsibility onto federal Minister of Fisheries Joanne Thompson to “take the lead and help the situation.”
Thompson had previously declined Marineland’s request to ship the whales off to China. Now that the lease for a whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia has been approved, here’s what to know.
What happened leading up to this moment?
The theme park located in Niagara Falls has been closed since 2024, but it is still home to 30 beluga whales and other animals. After a
back-and-forth between the federal government
, including threats to euthanize the whales, Marineland said it would work with Ontario to find a solution. It has come under fire in recent years due to alleged mistreatment of its animals. Since 2019, 20 whales have died in its care, the
.
A request to transfer the 30 remaining belugas to a Chinese theme park, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, was dismissed by Thompson, who said it would only lead to more suffering for the whales.
It would mean “a continued life in captivity and a return to public entertainment,” she said in
earlier in October.
She later denied Marineland’s request for federal funding. It costs around $1 to $2 million a month to feed and care for the belugas,
and
.
“The Government of Canada previously approved the export of belugas from Marineland in 2021 and will consider any other permit requests that are in the best interest of the whales,” said Thompson, in a letter obtained by National Post, responding to Marineland.
Can the belugas go to a whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia?
Not yet. The Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP) is located in Port Hilford Bay, N.S. and will “occupy more than 100 acres of water space with depths up to 18 meters,”
.
On Oct. 21,
a lease for the area was approved by the government
for 20 years, with an option to renew the lease for another 20 years. The approval means that construction can begin. The sanctuary will continue to raising funds to complete it so that it can house its first whales.
The group has been
keeping tabs on the ongoing situation at Marineland
, but has not yet said if it could accept all or some of the belugas.
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, along with other experts,
at the park and called for “a staged, veterinary-led triage and emergency-care plan for individual belugas to determine what is in the best interest of each animal.” It noted that the sanctuary was not ready to receive the whales.
The executive director of the sanctuary, Charles Vinick, has said that it would be able to
, out of the 30 at Marineland, Global News reported.
How would whales be transported across Canada?
Whether the whales are being transported across Canada, or to other parts of the world, it’s no easy feat. It can be stressful for them, according to WSP.
“They can be transported in container baths by boat, road or plane,” the group said.
Sea Life Trust, a beluga whale sanctuary off the coast of Iceland,
via Cargolux Airlines to have two belugas transported there from Shanghai, China in 2019. It took around 30 hours for the belugas to be moved from Changfeng Ocean World to the sanctuary on Heimaey Island.
TOUCHDOWN ✈️🐳 Little Grey & Little White have arrived safely in #Iceland after their special @Cargolux_Intl flight from #China. The whales are in good health and our care team will continue to assess their well-being as they continue on their journey to Heimaey island! pic.twitter.com/8qpuyS9Loc
— Beluga Whale Sanctuary (@BelugaSanctuary) June 19, 2019
The process involved lifting each whale via stretcher into its own specialized transportation tank. The tanks were then driven by trucks to the airport. The tanks were placed onto the cargo plane and flown to Iceland. Once they arrived, in a similar process, the tanks were taken by trucks to the sanctuary.
The sanctuary has space for 10 belugas.
In 1998, the killer whale, named Keiko, who starred in the move Free Willy, was transported
on an American military aircraft, the C-17 Globemaster III
, from captivity in the U.S. state of Oregon and released off the coast of Iceland. Keiko had been
briefly transferred to Marineland in Ontario
before he was sold.
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