Hakai Magazine: The Belugas Have Arrived
More than two years after the initial request was made, five beluga whales have left their overcrowded home at Marineland, an amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and arrived at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. The move came about a month after Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) quietly approved the controversial permit for the whales’ export.
The five whales—Jetta, Havana, Kharabali, Havok, and Sahara; four females and one male—traveled from Ontario to Connecticut by airplane inside special stretchers that supported their bodies while in water-filled tanks. Then, they were driven by transport trucks to the aquarium, accompanied by a police escort, and eventually lowered into their new habitat using cranes while in their supportive slings. Three whales arrived on the evening of May 14, and the other two arrived the following morning.
Throughout the entire process, which took almost 22 hours, the whales were attended by marine mammal experts and veterinarians. More than 150 people were involved in the move, according to Mystic Aquarium.
