‘It’s deeply saddening’: the way 30 captive beluga whales have become tools in conflict over animal welfare.

The beluga known as Jelly Bean’s offspring Bertie Botts is an cute small “playful character”. The whale Orion – nicknamed “Onion Ring” – is a sizeable but very loyal companion. Zephyr has “constant motion” and moves like a wiggly creature. Lillooet the beluga is the “loving presence” with a kind nature.

A group of thirty captive marine mammals in a Canada-based amusement park have been entangled in a struggle between a defunct facility, public officials and advocacy groups.

But those closest to the whales say the heated debate over their fate often overlooks the complexities of the whales who, after living their entire lives in confinement, have been thoroughly researched by the humans who work with them regularly.

After the federal government prevented the sale of the belugas to a foreign facility, the controversial amusement park near Niagara Falls where they are kept threatened to end their lives unless the government pays for the upkeep of keeping them alive. The nation’s fisheries minister has refused that request, placing the 30 whales in an increasingly precarious circumstance.

Highly Cognitive Sea Creatures

Experts say that beluga whales’ brain structure, along with their vocal imitation skills, problem solving and communal behavior point to they are highly cognitive creatures – something one caretaker observed directly.

Burgess spent three years as a whale caretaker, a position that entailed building relationships of the sea creatures.

“Establishing those relationships over time takes a lot of regularity and a lot of care. At the beginning, they’re very unsure of you,” she said. “In time, you gain reciprocal understanding. And they start being more vulnerable with you. It’s just so magical and fulfilling.”

Burgess knew the whales were exceptionally cognitive, but she says she was nonetheless amazed by the subtleties and idiosyncrasies in their dispositions. She developed a particular love for Eve and Cleopatra with contrasting temperaments.

“Eve accepted me. Cleo made me earn it,” she said. “Both altered the way I perceive bonding.”

Public Concerns and Deteriorating Conditions

Burgess’s relationship with the whales evolved against a backdrop of increasing societal concern to their captivity.

During her tenure at the facility, multiple belugas and the park’s single killer whale, the orca, succumbed. In all, nineteen belugas have perished at the park since 2019, a toll which the facility links to age-related causes, but which advocates say points to the poor conditions in which they were maintained.

The park did not admit visitors to the guests over the summer, but the former trainer says she saw with her own eyes consequences of the shutdown. “Concrete is breaking off from the tanks because they’re falling apart and not being repaired. The whales are curious and so they grab fragments and move about with chunks in their mouth. It’s heartbreaking to see.”

The facility did not comment to a questionnaire, but earlier asserted: “The whales … obtain far higher quality health care and constant care than any individual in the Britain, or anywhere else.”

Fate in Limbo and Proposed Solutions

The former employee was dismissed from the park in the spring following the death of a beluga, an unwell beluga the caretakers had to euthanize. She said the park believed details of the incident were leaked to the news outlets and she was fired shortly thereafter.

The lack of clarity over the whales’ future has left her and staff members in anguish. She says the facility’s threat to end the lives of its whales is a leverage tool and is a “logistically impossible” endeavor, adding any attempts to humanely kill even a single beluga would require “significant personnel”, trucks and specialized tools.

“There’s no way in hell the staff would ever do it,” she said.

Burgess backs requests for the whales to be transferred right away from the park, with its deteriorating pools and shrinking team.

In recent months, the nation’s government official denied a proposal to transfer the whales to an overseas location.

“Allowing the request would have meant a ongoing life in captivity and a return to display for amusement,” the minister wrote. “As society, we know that marine mammals belong in the ocean, not in enclosures for our entertainment. I could not in good conscience authorize an export that would perpetuate the treatment these belugas have endured.”

But Burgess said the official’s remarks indicate a wider lack of awareness of the realities of living conditions for belugas raised in confinement.

“The people needs to realize these are whales that have lived entirely in captivity and they will need ongoing assistance for the remainder of their lives,” she said. “The public just don’t realize that it’s not as easy as saying ‘shut it down’.”

Alternative Habitat and Continuing Discussion

As officials attempt to find a resolution, proposals have surfaced, some of which have little basis in reality. A suggested plan called for the belugas to be released into the natural habitat of northern regions – where whales are a important part of sustenance for local populations.

A proposed refuge in the region of Nova Scotia, which now received government approval, has shown to be contentious. The planned site, which includes 100 acres of enclosed sea water, remains undeveloped. Proponents remain hopeful that it could ultimately represent a sustainable answer for a number of the whales.

But, the former trainer says, among trainers she’s spoken with, there is “no trust there” about what she said is “merely an untested concept” in the whales’ fate.

Different voices say the idea of a sanctuary represents a broader global shift away from captive facilities and could represent a feasible plan in the short term.

Charles Vinick, head of the sanctuary project, said the facility will replicate the intellectual stimulation and feeding regimen the whales get from specialists, albeit in a much larger area. He said after the health of whales is thoroughly evaluated, which could take months|an extended period|