Marineland of Niagara belugas evacuated, but move to the Shedd goes badly

Taiji dolphin captures for sale to marine mammal parks go on––& still no viable sanctuaries for displaced whales & dolphins

            CHICAGO,  Illinois;  NIAGARA,  Ontario;  TAIJI,  Japan––September 1,  2026 ended one long chapter in the history of marine mammal captivity,  as the last six beluga whales left Marineland of Niagara Falls.

Another chapter began,  however, for 11 bottlenose dolphins captured alive at Taiji,  Japan,  for resale to exhibition facilities around the world.

A further 189 bottlenose dolphins herded into the infamous Taiji cove at the same time may be slaughtered,  or may be released.  Among nine different dolphin species,  the Taiji “drive fishers” have a quota of 1,814 dolphins who may be killed between September 1,  2026 and March 2027.

Both the Marineland and the Taiji updates were noted by Ceta Base,  self-described as “a global database of cetaceans living in zoos,  aquariums,  and marine parks around the world.”

Ceta Base tracks “births,  deaths,  transfers,  and other life events” involving whales and dolphins in exhibition facilities.

Only brief celebration

Animal advocates who have long campaigned for the closure of Marineland of Niagara Falls,  opened in 1961 and long operated as more-or-less a marine mammal wholesaler serving other marine mammal parks,  only briefly celebrated after the beluga whales Yukon and Gimli were moved to the John Shedd Aquarium on the Chicago waterfront.

“Their departure,  together with the transfer of four other cetaceans to SeaWorld San Antonio, marks the end of cetacean display at the Marineland park.  It has been moved into historical status in the Ceta-Base inventory,”  Ceta Base said.

“There will no longer be any beluga whales or any other type of whales in captivity in Canada at the end of today,”  affirmed Marineland spokesperson Andrew Burns to Canadian Press.

(See Oh deer: Marineland belugas rehomed, but deer & elk allegedly slaughtered.)

Where they all went

Altogether,  30 belugas and four dolphins left Marineland of Niagara Falls alive.  The heirs of the late longtime owners John and Marie Holer in October 2025 had threatened to have the cetaceans euthanized,  after the Department of Fisheries & Oceans Canada vetoed a scheme to sell them all to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in China.

Chimelong Ocean Kingdom is,  incidentally,  perhaps the biggest buyer of dolphins from  Taiji.

Instead,  the former Marineland of Niagara Falls belugas and dolphins were sent to Oceanogràfic València in Spain,  the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta,   the SeaWorld marine mammal parks in San Diego, California, and San Antonio, Texas,  and the Shedd,  where the celebrations ended just a day later.

There two belugas died on September 2,  2026,  “including one who arrived just weeks ago as part of an international rescue effort,”  reported Ashlyn Wright and Winnie Dortch for WGN television in Chicago.

What happened?

“Overall,  three beluga whales have died at the aquarium in just over a week,”  Wright and Dortch recounted.  “Shedd officials say there are now 15 belugas remaining at the aquarium,  eight who were rescued from Marineland,  and seven who are part of Shedd’s resident pod.

“Rain,  a 20-year-old female,  was one of the belugas who died,”  Wright and Dortch said.  “She arrived at Shedd in mid-August as part of a group of eight female whales rescued from Marineland,  which had been closed and non-operational for nearly two years.

“Beethoven,  a 34-year-old male who was part of the aquarium’s resident beluga pod,  was the other whale who died,”  identified Wright and Dortch.

Beethoven rolled over

Rain and Beethoven died “just a week after aquarium officials announced the death of a 23-year-old whale named Peekachu,  who was also rescued from the Canadian marine park,”  Wright and Dortch added.

Said the Shedd Aquarium in a prepared statement,  “It will take time to get concrete answers about what led to their passings. Necropsies,  blood tests,  and additional exams are underway to help better understand what happened.  Some answers may come quickly,  while others may take more time to come into focus.  Given how closely the public has followed the rescue effort,  Shedd felt it was important to share this news now rather than wait for every answer.”

Earlier,  the Shedd disclosed on August 26,  2026,  as summarized by Nic Flosi of Fox 32 in Chicago,  “Blood tests raised concerns that Peekachu was dehydrated after she had not been consistently eating her full diet.”

“Yet another example of the devastating effects of captivity”

Former Marineland of Niagara Falls trainer Phil Demers,  co-founder of the organization UrgentSeas and a vehement critic of Marineland of Niagara Falls since 2010,  posted to Facebook “Sadly, despite the efforts of many to spare Marineland’s whales from the catastrophic effects their failed life support system and toxic water caused them,  the beluga whale death count continues to rise.

“While too early to know if the deaths are from the same cause,  this is a yet another example of the devastating effects captivity has on whales,”  Demers alleged.

“Nearly 30 of Marineland’s whales and dolphins have died since 2019,”  Demers continued,  “when their lawyer took over the park operation.  His refusal to address the life support system concerns led to years of those poor whales languishing in the very water that was killing them.

“Had he only authorized the removal of those whales long ago,”  Demers charged,  “instead of suing critics,”  Demers included,  “and denying problems, maybe some of those whales could have survived. But he refused and denied.  And now the whales are compromised and still dying off.

Exactly as we forewarned they would. Sad and cruel.”

(See What killed 18 Marineland of Niagara Falls & Mystic Aquarium belugas?)

Not immediately put on display

The former Marineland of Canada belugas were not immediately put on display at the Shedd.  Rather,  reported Kade Heather for Block Club Chicago,  “The rescued whales have remained out of public view as they settle into their new surroundings.  Shedd has been monitoring them around the clock, observing their behavior,  eating habits,  breathing,  and interactions with one another,  and adjusting their care based on the animals’ needs.”

None of the belugas were very young.

“Rain was captured in Russia in 2008,”  according to Ceta Base.  “She arrived at Marineland of Niagara Falls on December 6, 2008,”  transferred to the Shedd Aquarium nearly 18 years later,  on August 13, 2026.

Evacuation of Marineland took six weeks

Beethoven,  born on August 8, 1992 at SeaWorld San Antonio,  also lived at SeaWorld San Diego,  the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma,  and the Georgia Aquarium,  before arriving at the Shedd on October 19,  2014.

The first six belugas relocated from Marineland of Niagara Falls were flown to the U.S. on July 20, 2026.  Four of them––Sierra,  Acadia,  Osiris,  and Lillooet––went to the Shedd.  Two more,  Bertie Botts and Frankie,  went to SeaWorld San Antonio.

After those transfers were deemed successful,  seven more belugas were flown to SeaWorld San Antonio on August 3,  2026.  These are named Xena,  Gemini,  Skyla,  Meeka,  Eve,  Neva,  and Calypso.

The deceased Peekachu and Rain reached the Shedd on August 12,  2026,  along with two others,  Caspian and Secord.

Georgia Aquarium displayed belugas immediately

The belugas Balor and Zephyr were on the same day sent to the Georgia Aquarium on August 12, 2026.  There they were “introduced to the Georgia Aquarium’s existing population and are in the main display habitat,”  according to Ceta Base.

“Xavier,  Cyprus and Jasper transferred from Marineland of Niagara Falls to SeaWorld San Diego on August 21,  2026,”  Ceta Base said.

The longest and most difficult evacuation was accomplished over the two days from August 26, 2026 to the early morning hours of August 27,  2026,  when the belugas Cleopatra and Jelly Bean,  along with the Black Sea bottlenose dolphins Tsunami,  Lida,  Echo,  and Marina,  were flown to  Oceanogràfic Valencia during the early hours of August 27, 2026.

Marineland Antibes closed,  but orcas are still there

The Marineland of Niagara Falls cetacean population and 12 dolphins plus two orca whales kept at Marineland Antibes in France became simultaneously in need of rehoming after Marineland Antibes,  opened in 1970,  closed on January 5,  2025.

Despite sharing the “Marineland” name,  the two facilities––and a variety of other marine mammal parks also called “Marineland”––never shared common ownership or management.

Multiple schemes were floated for retiring the Marineland of Niagara Falls and Marineland Antibes whales and dolphins to sanctuaries,  but sank beneath the combination of fiscal reality and urgent need to move the whales and dolphins from deteriorating sites without revenue streams to support their care.

(See Whale Sanctuary Project may not finally get some whales after all.)

Dolphins also need new homes

French environment minister Mathieu Lefèvre has also been scrambling to rehome 11 dolphins kept at Planète Sauvage in Loire-Atlantique,  opened in 1992,  obligated to close by a 2021 law mandating an end to for-profit marine mammal exhibition before the end of 2026.

Lefèvre on December 13,  2025 announced that the Marineland Antibes orcas,  named Wikie and Keijo,  would go to the Whale Sanctuary Project,  in Nova Scotia,  Canada.

The dolphins from both Marineland Antibes and Planète Sauvage were to go to a proposed “Centre for Studies,  Scientific Research and Conservation for Dolphins” at Zoo Beauval,  France.

The Whale Sanctuary Project,  however,  has no actual facilities for orcas or any other marine mammals,  and no likelihood of completing any in the near future.

Destination Spain

Thwarted in that direction,  Lefèvre eventually announced that Wikie and Keijo would be transferred to the Loro Parque marine mammal park in Tenerife, Spain.

That transfer,  bitterly opposed by all of the animal advocates and advocacy organizations who won passage of the 2021 law,  has not yet occurred,  and may yet be blocked by litigation.

Eight bottlenose dolphins were transferred on July 22, 2026 from Marineland Antibes to Selwo Marina,  a small for-profit marine mammal park in Benalmadena,  Spain,  ten miles southwest of Malaga,  opened in 2002.

Zoo Beauval director Rodolphe Delord a month later,  on August 25,  2026,  cancelled the “Centre for Studies,  Scientific Research and Conservation for Dolphins” scheme,  citing “rising construction costs,  legal challenges,  financial uncertainty and the absence of a government commitment to support the project,”  Ceta Base summarized.

Iceland beluga sanctuary project delayed again

An entity in development in Iceland,  called the Sea Life Trust Beluga Whale Sanctuary,  meanwhile announced on July 30,  2026 that it had postponed permanently releasing two belugas named Little White and Little Grey into Klettsvík Bay until the summer of 2027.

Captured off the Arctic coast of Russia in 2010,  Little White and Little Grey spent the next decade at Changfend Ocean World in Shanghai, China,  but in 2020 were transferred to Sea Life Trust after the British firm Merlin Entertainment bought Changfend Ocean World.

“Since their transport from China,”  according to Ceta Base,  “Little White and Little Grey have spent two seasons in a Klettsvik Bay sea pen for an approximate 158 days total,”  including 123 days in 2020 and 35 days in 2023.

Deja vu all over again

Amid the sanctuary disappointments and grief over the deaths of the former Marineland of Niagara Falls belugas at the Shedd Aquarium,  those of long memory recalled that three belugas among a group of five sold to the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic,  Connecticut in May 2021 died by December 2023.

The third of the three,  Kharabali died after a month-long unidentified illness,  coincidental with the reported death of another beluga at Marineland of Niagara Falls,  who was apparently formerly housed with Kharabali,  the other two former Marineland of Niagara Falls belugas who died at the Mystic Aquarium,  and 14 more belugas who had at Marineland of Niagara Falls since 2007.

1992 Shedd catastrophe

Observers of even longer memory recalled that in 1992 the Shedd Aquarium roused activist outrage with the alleged rough captures of six belugas it had sought since 1989.

Six belugas were chased to exhaustion and cornered with speedboats in waters north of Churchill,  Manitoba.

Two of the belugas,  considered unhealthy,  were released at the capture site.  The remaining four were flown to Chicago on August 18,  1992.

On September 22,  1992,  however,  scarcely a month later,  two of the four belugas who arrived at the Shedd died within a 15-minute span from overdoses of deworming medicine.

The treatment was medically necessary,  and at least one beluga among the four might have died without it.  However,  the simultaneous dosing of the belugas was widely criticized because it divided staff attention  and lessened the chances that any complications suffered by one whale might be seen and arrested before treatment of another began.

Canadian anti-export edict issued,  then abandoned

A subsequent investigation by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration discovered that Shedd veterinarian Jeffrey Boehm was not properly licensed in the state of Illinois.

On December 21,  1993,  the Shedd paid a $2,510 fine,  euphemistically described as a settlement agreement involving non-admission of guilt.

Nine days after that,   while denying any direct connection between the events,   Canadian fisheries minister John Crosbie announced that his government would “no longer consider the live capture of belugas for export,”  a policy subsequently abandoned as Marineland of Niagara Falls sold belugas and other marine mammals hither and yon.

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