Canada begins largest beluga whale rescue after Marineland closure

Six beluga whales left Marineland of Canada on July 20 as marine experts began moving the 30 whales left behind at the shuttered Niagara Falls park. The transfer, expected to take weeks, is being treated as a rescue operation for animals that had been confined in deteriorating tanks at a facility that closed to the public in 2024.

The first group moved after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration approved an emergency relocation and import plan in July 2026, and after Canadian federal fisheries officials rejected Marineland’s separate request to send the whales to a theme park in China. The emergency approval came after Marineland threatened to euthanize the whales unless it received emergency funding for their care, turning the fate of the animals into a national political and animal-welfare crisis.

The logistics are unusually complex. Reports said the whales are being sent to accredited U.S. aquariums, with Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and SeaWorld San Antonio among the named destinations. Other reporting said the full plan could involve four U.S. aquariums and possibly Spain. Animal-welfare advocates have described the operation as the largest beluga whale relocation in Canadian history.

The move also exposes how difficult it is to undo captivity once marine mammals have spent years in entertainment facilities. Media accounts said the belugas had been stuck at the closed park for about two years before the rescue began. Veterinarians involved in the transfer said they remained hopeful about the whales’ health despite the stress of transport, but each transfer requires careful handling, transport coordination and a receiving facility able to absorb animals with complicated histories and high care needs.

Marineland’s belugas have long sat at the center of Canada’s broader reckoning over marine parks. Parliament banned the captivity and breeding of whales and dolphins in 2019 under the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act. CBC News reported that Ontario Animal Welfare Services had visited Marineland more than 200 times since 2020, underscoring how closely regulators had been watching the park. The Whale Sanctuary Project has said 88 belugas have spent all or part of their lives at Marineland, while World Animal Protection said 17 beluga whales died there since 2019.

For supporters of the transfer, the first six departures marked the first real step toward ending a long and troubled chapter at Marineland. For the whales, success now depends less on the spectacle of rescue than on whether new homes can provide stable care after years of confinement.