Sixth Marineland animal dies after move to U.S.

A 27-year-old beluga named Caspian died at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago on Wednesday, Oct. 7, becoming the sixth animal from Canada’s closed Marineland park to die since its whales and dolphins were moved out this summer, according to Global News.

The aquarium said Caspian had not been eating properly and that blood samples showed abnormal electrolyte levels. It said her blood had become “dangerously acidic.” Staff kept her on life support for nearly four hours, but she died. The cause of death has not been determined, Global News reported.

The tally is five belugas and one dolphin. Two other Marineland belugas that died at Shedd, Peekachu on Aug. 25 and Rain on Sept. 2, had long-standing inflammation of the digestive system, according to Shedd reports cited by CHCH. A third, 26-year-old Osiris, died Sept. 21, and a preliminary report linked her death to chronic liver disease. Jelly Bean, a 19-year-old beluga born at Marineland, and a dolphin named Echo both died at the Oceanografic aquarium in Valencia, Spain, Global News reported.

Shedd said the six remaining belugas it received are eating their full diets, according to CHCH. Reports differ on some details. The CHCH article does not say clearly whether Caspian is included in its count of four belugas and one dolphin, and the dates for several of the earlier deaths were not given in all of the coverage. The count above combines the reports and matches the Blooloop tally of five of the 30 belugas.

Over about six weeks, 30 belugas and four Black Sea dolphins left the Niagara Falls, Ont., park in six transports for Shedd, SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld San Diego, the Georgia Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut and Oceanografic Valencia, according to Blooloop. Marineland has said it was running out of money and could no longer care for the animals.

For Canadian readers, the deaths raise a question about a federal decision. On Jan. 26, Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson conditionally approved Marineland’s application to export the animals. She required a health assessment by an accredited veterinarian and a transportation plan, CP24 reported. “This is a solid plan to allow these animals to live their life in much more healthy conditions,” Thompson said at the time.

Federal law gave her limited room to say yes. A 2019 law banned keeping whales and dolphins in captivity but exempted animals already held. It also made breeding illegal and barred imports and exports, except for research or where the minister finds a move is in the animal’s best interest. Thompson said this case met that exception. She had denied an earlier request to send the belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in China, CP24 reported.

The alternative was stark. Marineland had told Ottawa it would euthanize the animals if the permits were not approved by Jan. 30. CP24 reported that 20 whales, a killer whale and 19 belugas, had died at Marineland since 2019, the year the captivity ban passed.

Several things remain unclear from the coverage reviewed. Shedd’s necropsies point to illnesses that predated the move, but those findings come from the aquarium itself, and Canada News Media did not find an independent review. Caspian’s necropsy results have not been reported. Nor did the coverage say whether the Fisheries Department has reviewed the health of the animals since the export, or how many of the 30 belugas remain alive at each facility. Canada News Media did not review the U.S. import permit, so its conditions are not covered here.

The deaths do not by themselves show that the move was a mistake, and the reports so far point to illnesses that began before it. But they will shape the debate over what Canada owes the last captive whales it once licensed, and whether the ministerial exception should be used again.

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Via Global News. Additional reporting from CHCH, Blooloop and CP24. This story is developing.