Final group of rescued beluga whales arrives at Shedd Aquarium from shuttered Canada marine park

1 beluga died after being moved
Updated 2 hours ago
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The final group of rescued beluga whales are now at the Shedd Aquarium.

The rescues came from a marine park in Canada that had been closed and nonoperational for nearly two years.



Two more whales arrived early Tuesday morning.

The animal care team is observing all nine rescued whales around the clock.



A 10th beluga whale died after being moved.

The Shedd is helping to re-home 30 beluga whales from the Canada marine park.

Others are going to Atlanta, San Antonio, San Diego and Spain.

The belugas can be up to 15-feet long and weigh up to 3,300 pounds.

Dr. Karisa Tang is the lead veterinarian and vice president of Animal Health at the Shedd Aquarium. She says they were asked to help out.



"All of these facilities in the United States and Spain have decades of experience working with and caring for belugas. And we have experience in transferring them. No one has experience in transferring 30 like this. You know, this is an unprecedented event. But in all the experience that all these facilities have, we're able to combine all that in the biggest group project any of us have probably ever done," Tang said.

Tang added that the moves are "very safely done, under a lot of really strict schedules and a lot of really complicated spreadsheets and logistics."

Our Chicago Part 2: Shedd Aquarium welcomes beluga whales from Canada


All of the planning for these moves began back in January, said Charlie Jacobsma, the aquarium's director of animal behavior and training. That was the first time Shedd staffers went to Canada.

"And we were really evaluating if a rescue plan was feasible. We wanted to make sure we were doing what was best for these animals," Jacobsma said.



Over multiple visits, Jacobsma said, they interviewed the staff at the marine park in Canada and got to understand the operations there.

"When we do a transport like this, every single animal is individual. So, we really have to make sure that we're doing what's best for that animal, from the size of the transport container, to the size of the structure they're in. Everything is planned out. And then we have contingencies with those plans as well," Jacobsma said.
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