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The beluga known as Jelly Bean’s offspring Bertie Botts is an cute little “ham sandwich”. Orion – called “Onion” – is a sizeable but fiercely protective companion. Zephyr has “ants in his pants” and moves like a worm. Lillooet the beluga is the “most affectionate” with a heart of gold.

A group of thirty enclosed marine mammals in a Canada-based entertainment facility have been entangled in a tussle between a closed attraction, public officials and welfare campaigners.

But those most familiar with the whales say the impassioned controversy over their future often ignores the individual traits of the whales who, after living their entire lives in captivity, have been closely studied by the humans who interact with them daily.

After the national authorities prevented the transfer of the belugas to a foreign facility, the struggling facility near Niagara Falls where they are housed stated it would consider to put them down unless the government covers the upkeep of keeping them alive. Canada’s marine resources official has rejected that request, placing the thirty whales in an dangerously unstable circumstance.

Highly Cognitive Marine Mammals

Scientists say that belugas’ neuroanatomy, along with their mimicry abilities, intellectual tasks and group interactions point to they are remarkably smart animals – something a former trainer discovered directly.

Burgess spent several years as a marine mammal specialist, a job that required gaining confidence of the marine predators.

“Developing those relationships over time takes a lot of consistency and a lot of care. At the start, they’re very cautious of you,” she said. “Eventually, you gain reciprocal understanding. And they start being more vulnerable with you. It’s just so magical and gratifying.”

The trainer knew the whales were very smart, but she says she was nonetheless astounded by the subtleties and idiosyncrasies in their personalities. She formed a deep bond for two female belugas with different temperaments.

“One whale accepted me. The other made me earn it,” she said. “They changed the way I view bonding.”

Growing Opposition and Deteriorating Conditions

Burgess’s interaction with the whales developed against a context of growing public opposition to their confinement.

During her tenure at the facility, multiple belugas and the park’s single orca, Kiska, passed away. In total, nineteen belugas have died at the park since 2019, a statistic which the park links to natural mortality, but which activists say reflects the inadequate care in which they were housed.

The park did not admit visitors to the public over the recent season, but Burgess says she witnessed firsthand results of the shutdown. “Concrete is breaking off from the tanks because they’re degrading and not being fixed. The whales are inquisitive and so they take pieces and swim around with pieces in their jaws. It’s heartbreaking to see.”

The park did not reply to a inquiry, but in the past asserted: “The whales … get far better health care and constant care than any individual in the United Kingdom, or elsewhere.”

Fate in Limbo and Potential Resolutions

The former employee was fired from the facility in early March following the death of Eos, an unwell beluga the caretakers had to put down. She said the facility suspected details of the incident were disclosed to the press and she was released not long after.

The ambiguity over the whales’ future has left Burgess and current and former trainers in anguish. She says the facility’s warning to end the lives of its whales is a leverage tool and is a “practically unfeasible” undertaking, adding any efforts to euthanize even a individual beluga would require “considerable personnel”, trucks and specialized tools.

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

She supports requests for the whales to be removed promptly from the facility, with its crumbling tanks and shrinking team.

In the autumn, the nation’s fisheries minister denied a request to export the whales to China.

“To approve the application would have meant a ongoing situation in confinement and a reversion to performance for audiences,” the official wrote. “As the public, we know that marine mammals should be in the wild, not in tanks for our amusement. I could not in clear conscience approve an transfer that would perpetuate the treatment these belugas have suffered.”

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

“The public needs to grasp these are whales that have lived entirely in confinement 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 simple as saying ‘shut it down’.”

Alternative Habitat and Ongoing Debate

As authorities work to find a solution, ideas have surfaced, some of which have questionable practicality. One proposal called for the belugas to be released into the open waters of Canada’s north – where whales are a primary resource of nourishment for Indigenous peoples.

A proposed protected area in the province of Nova Scotia, which has received official endorsement, has proven most controversial. The planned site, which includes 100 acres of enclosed sea water, remains undeveloped. Supporters remain positive that it could in time represent a long term solution for some of the whales.

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

Others say the possibility of a refuge reflects a changing attitudes away from zoos and aquariums and could represent a feasible approach in the short term.

Charles Vinick, director of the initiative, said the facility will simulate the intellectual stimulation and nutrition the whales obtain from trainers, albeit in a significantly bigger space. He said after the medical condition of whales is fully assessed, which could take months|an extended period|