Six belugas left Marineland Park in Ontario on Monday to join aquariums in the United States.
• Also read: Marineland belugas: conditional authorization for their expulsion to the United States granted by Ottawa
• Also read: Marineland ultimately hopes to sell its beluga whales to American parks
This approach is part of the start of a major operation which concerns 30 belugas and four dolphins, according to information from Global News.
These belugas will be distributed among several aquariums, including Chicago, San Antonio, San Diego, Atlanta and Valencia, Spain.
An attempt to send the animals to China was previously blocked last year by Canadian authorities.
A beluga whale, part of the first batch of six animals to be transferred to aquariums in the United States, is hoisted by a sling at the now-closed Marineland Canada marine park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, July 20, 2026.
via REUTERS
The animals have found themselves in a precarious situation since the park closed its doors in 2024, following the death of the last owner.
The park no longer had the financial means to care for marine animals. Marineland had even threatened to euthanize the whales if the Canadian government did not urgently pay money.
The federal government has since reportedly planned several million dollars in financial assistance to manage this crisis, but the exact details have not yet been made public.
The movement of mammals also required special authorizations via CITES, an international agreement which regulates the trade and movement of protected animal species.
Health checks on each animal are also carried out before each departure.
The animal rights group Animal Justice recognizes that this transfer is “the least bad option”, but regrets that a marine sanctuary has not been seriously considered, according to the Ontario media.
