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Jelly Bean’s daughter Bertie Botts is an charming small “playful character”. Orion – nicknamed “Onion” – is a big but guardian-like friend. Another whale, Zephyr has “ants in his pants” and wiggles like a wiggly creature. Lillooet is the “most affectionate” with a gentle spirit.

A group of thirty captive marine mammals in a Canada-based entertainment facility have become pawns in a disagreement between a defunct facility, public officials and welfare campaigners.

But those most familiar with the whales say the intense discussion over their future often overlooks the individual traits of the whales who, after growing up in captivity, have been thoroughly researched by the humans who see them each day.

After the federal government blocked the export of the belugas to China, the struggling attraction near the famous falls where they are housed warned to euthanize them unless the federal government covers the cost of keeping them alive. Canada’s marine resources official has rejected that request, placing the 30 whales in an dangerously unstable situation.

Highly Cognitive Sea Creatures

Researchers say that beluga whales’ neuroanatomy, along with their sound replication, problem solving and group interactions suggest they are deeply intelligent animals – something Kristy Burgess discovered personally.

Burgess spent several years as a marine mammal specialist, a job that entailed building relationships of the sea creatures.

“Establishing those connections over time takes a lot of dedication and a lot of love. At the beginning, they’re very unsure of you,” she said. “In time, you gain shared confidence. And they start being more vulnerable with you. It’s just so wonderful and gratifying.”

Burgess knew the whales were very smart, but she says she was even so astounded by the nuances and idiosyncrasies in their dispositions. She developed a special affection for Eve and Cleopatra with different temperaments.

“Eve chose me. Cleo made me earn it,” she said. “They changed the way I view relationships.”

Growing Opposition and Facility Decline

Burgess’s connection with the whales evolved against a background of increasing societal concern to their enclosure.

During her time at the facility, seven belugas and the park’s one orca, the orca, succumbed. In all, nineteen belugas have perished at the park since 2019, a toll which the park ascribes to natural mortality, but which activists say indicates the poor conditions in which they were kept.

The facility did not open to the public over the recent season, but Burgess says she witnessed firsthand consequences of the closure. “Structural materials is deteriorating from the enclosures because they’re falling apart and not being repaired. The whales are exploratory and so they take pieces and navigate with fragments in their mouth. It’s upsetting to see.”

The facility did not comment to a questionnaire, but earlier asserted: “The whales … get far better veterinary services and around the clock care than any human in the United Kingdom, or elsewhere.”

Uncertain Future and Potential Resolutions

The former employee was terminated from the facility in early March following the death of a beluga, an unwell beluga the employees had to put down. She said the facility thought information of the death were disclosed to the media and she was released soon after.

The lack of clarity over the whales’ fate has left her and current and former trainers in anguish. She says the facility’s ultimatum to end the lives of its whales is a bargaining chip and is a “logistically impossible” undertaking, adding any efforts to humanely kill even a single beluga would require “immense personnel”, vehicles and machinery.

“It cannot happen in hell the employees would ever do it,” she said.

Burgess advocates for calls for the whales to be transferred immediately from the park, with its deteriorating pools and dwindling staff.

In recent months, Canada’s fisheries minister turned down a request to transfer the whales to China.

“Allowing the proposal would have meant a continued existence in confinement and a reversion to display for amusement,” the official commented. “As Canadians, we know that whales should be in the sea, not in pools for our enjoyment. I could not in ethical standing permit an transfer that would perpetuate the conditions these belugas have endured.”

But Burgess said the minister’s comments indicate a wider misunderstanding of the circumstances of life for belugas living their whole lives in enclosures.

“The people needs to grasp these are whales that have spent their whole lives in enclosed habitats and they will need ongoing assistance for the foreseeable future,” she said. “The public just don’t comprehend that it’s not as straightforward as saying ‘shut it down’.”

Sanctuary Proposal and Ongoing Debate

As officials work to find a solution, ideas have been put forward, some of which have minimal feasibility. A suggested plan called for the belugas to be released into the natural habitat of the Arctic – where whales are a key source of food for Inuit communities.

A proposed sanctuary in the region of Nova Scotia, which recently received government approval, has shown to be highly debated. The prospective site, which includes extensive space of penned in ocean, remains undeveloped. Proponents remain optimistic that it could in time represent a permanent resolution for some of the whales.

But, the former trainer says, among caretakers she’s spoken with, there is “doubts there” about what she said is “simply an untested concept” in the whales’ well-being.

Different voices say the possibility of a refuge reflects a changing attitudes away from captive facilities and could represent a feasible plan in the short term.

Charles Vinick, head of the plan, said the facility will simulate the cognitive activities and nutrition the whales get from trainers, albeit in a more expansive space. He said after the health of whales is completely examined, which could take months|an extended period|