The sequence of events began with the passage of the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act in 2019, a federal law that banned the keeping, breeding, and trading of whales, dolphins, and porpoises for entertainment in Canada. This legislation effectively dismantled the business model of Marineland, the country’s last remaining facility holding such animals. After failing to recover from the tourism slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Marineland was put up for sale in 2024 and began relocating many of its animals. However, the fate of the remaining 30 belugas became a point of significant legal and ethical contention. In 2025, when the federal government blocked Marineland’s request to export the belugas to an aquarium in China, the park warned it might have no choice but to euthanize them absent emergency funding. Releasing the animals into the wild was rejected by marine experts as a certain path to death, given their lifelong captivity.
In response to this impasse, a consortium of aquariums under the U.S. Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) devised a plan to transfer the 30 belugas to high-calibre institutions capable of providing full-time care. The operation, described by Dr. Doug Whiteside, head veterinarian at the Calgary Zoo and a member of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association’s animal welfare committee, as a “Hail Mary effort” to provide a better life for the whales, involved moving the animals across the Atlantic. Sixteen belugas were transferred to SeaWorld facilities in California and Texas, 10 to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, two to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, and two to Oceanogràfic València in Spain. The Spanish facility also accepted four bottlenose dolphins from Marineland.
Despite adherence to international regulations and the involvement of reputable institutions, the transfers have been followed by a series of deaths. The first was Peekachu, a 23-year-old female beluga who died at Shedd Aquarium on August 25, 2025. A subsequent death followed on September 3, when Rain, another 20-year-old female at Shedd, died. An initial report found “chronic inflammatory disease” in both whales, with foreign objects such as bird feathers, sticks, and large rocks found inside Peekachu. A detailed final report released by Shedd on October 9 stated that Peekachu’s examination identified “age-related tissue changes, preexisting hypertension … and lung scarring,” while Rain had “subsequent inflammation” throughout her body. External experts concluded that underlying diseases likely made both whales more susceptible to cardiovascular stress, which contributed to their deaths.
Further losses occurred in late September and early October. On September 18, CBC News reported the death of Jellybean, a 19-year-old female at Oceanogràfic València, though the facility has not announced a cause of death. On September 21, Shedd Aquarium announced the death of Osiris, a 25-year-old female who had remained a “whale of clinical concern” since her arrival, despite recent encouraging signs; a preliminary examination revealed chronic liver disease. On September 24, Oceanogràfic València announced the death of Echo, one of the bottlenose dolphins, who had arrived with “serious vision problems” and experienced rapid deterioration including difficulties swallowing and respiratory issues. The most recent death before Cyprus’s was that of Caspian, a 27-year-old female at Shedd, who died on October 7 after her condition deteriorated despite being placed on life support. SeaWorld San Diego noted that Cyprus, who had been eating well since his arrival, stopped eating two days before his death.
The legal and ethical implications of these deaths are being debated by legal scholars and animal welfare advocates. Angela Fernandez, director of the Animal Law Program at the University of Toronto’s law faculty, argued that the transfers were in the animals’ best interests, drawing a parallel to evacuating an old-age home: “You would not evacuate an old-age home and take only the strong individuals if there is capacity to take everyone.” She noted that the group included stronger and weaker individuals, much like a group of human retirees. However, advocacy groups such as Animal Justice have pointed to the federal and provincial governments, as well as Marineland, alleging a failure to properly plan for the animals’ futures. Experts express concern that the acute stress of the transfer may have pushed chronically stressed animals over the edge, even if international regulations were followed. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans maintains that the transfers represented the best possible rescue plan given the constraints.
As the remaining 24 belugas and dolphins settle into their new environments, the focus shifts to the long-term health monitoring of the survivors. The documented causes of death in the verified cases point to pre-existing conditions exacerbated by age and stress, yet the aggregate loss has renewed public scrutiny on the regulatory framework that led to the park’s closure. The next confirmed legal and administrative step involves the ongoing compliance reviews by the receiving AZA-accredited institutions and the continued oversight by Canadian authorities to ensure the welfare standards for the remaining transferred animals are met, while the broader question of accountability for the pre-transfer conditions at Marineland remains an open point of contention among stakeholders.
