The staff is helping to re-home 30 beluga whales from a closed marine park in Canada. Eight belugas have been brought here to Chicago. Others are going to Atlanta, San Antonio, San Diego, and Spain.
These belugas can be up to 15 feet long and weigh up to 3,300 pounds.
Dr. Karisa Tang, 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.
Jacobsma said they're starting to see the personalities of the belugas that have been brought here from Canada.
"Osiris is one of them. Where she first came, she was a little timid. She was a little bit standoffish, and she was hanging back. And now, we brought her in when the new rescues came in as well for the second four whales, when we reintroduced them together, and she became this leader," Jacobsma said.
Tang addressed the question of when she'll be able to relax.
"The transport itself is a really big deal, but it's really step one. I think it's really looking at weeks to months. I'm a scientist, so I'm not sure I ever fully relax. In terms of, you never really know what's going to happen in any given day. I would give it weeks to months to make sure they're really integrated together, doing well individually and as a group," Tang said.
Jacobsma says anyone who wants to keep up with how the belugas are doing should follow the Shedd Aquarium on social media.