Valium, health checks and fabric slings: the complex logistics of moving 30 beluga whales | Canada

BBefore boarding the plane, travelers will be given a dose of Valium to calm their nerves. For some, it will be their first time flying. Others have flown thousands of miles over the Pacific Ocean. Like most tired and anxious passengers, they will be offered minimal personal space on board and food is not included in their fare.

But for these jet-setters, the restricted accommodations and minimal refreshments aren’t meant to maximize airline profits: they’re meant to keep them safe.

When 30 beluga whales and four dolphins are removed from Canada’s Marineland amusement park, the operation will be both a painstaking logistical feat and what former trainers say will be a “long overdue” move to ensure the safe removal of the country’s last captive whales.

Earlier this week, Canada’s federal Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson announced she had reached an agreement in principle on export permits that would allow all of Marineland’s sick belugas to be shipped to four aquariums in the United States. However, none of the aquariums have confirmed that they will take the whales. “The focus at this point must be on the animals themselves,” the Georgia Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium and Shedd Aquarium said in a statement, adding that observations from a recent visit to Marineland would help “inform plans to provide hope and a future for these animals.”

But this project represents the closest all parties have come to reaching a plan to permanently remove the whales from the amusement park, which has been closed to the public since 2024.

In October, Thompson rejected Marineland’s plan to sell the beluga whales to China’s Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, fearing the sale would result in “continued life in captivity and a return to public entertainment,” which is prohibited under Canadian law.

In response, Marineland threatened to kill its 30 belugas.

According to former trainer-turned-whistleblower Phil Demers, moving a single whale requires careful planning, but transporting 30 whales is an extremely complex task and yet can also be done “incredibly quickly.”

First, all cetaceans must receive a certificate of good health after careful inspection by a veterinarian. Among the belugas that could be sent, two have received medical treatment in recent months for health problems.

“In all honesty, every animal is compromised to some extent. That’s just the reality of captivity. But at Marineland, they are absolutely compromised, which is why the Ontario government deemed the animals ‘distressed’ when inspecting the park in 2021,” Demers said.

For those who are healthy enough to travel, trainers will stop feeding them the day before and administer a dose of Valium. The next morning, the water in their tanks will be lowered and trainers will come in to help guide the whale in a cloth sling with holes for its pectoral fins. Once the whale is in the sling, it is lifted with a crane and placed in a “whale transport box,” a steel container approximately 15 feet long and filled with salt water.

The largest whale ever transported — a baby gray whale named JJ that weighed nearly 20,000 pounds and measured 31 feet — was placed in a custom foam-padded container and driven along a California highway to the ocean.

“You need just enough water to keep the whale buoyant each time its lungs fill with air so that there’s not too much weight on its internal organs. But you can’t have too much water going into its blowholes,” Demers said. “It will be a tumultuous journey and the water will flow, but it’s also no different than a hard day in the ocean.”

The metal crates will be loaded onto trucks and transported down the highway to a transport plane. If travel is possible by road, planes are preferred and the Lockheed C-130 Hercules is favored by the teams for its ability to easily load the belly of the plane. But with few available, teams are forced to look for other options, Demers said.

“Once you land, it’s the same process but in reverse.”

Depending on the weight of the whales, Demers said up to nine whales could be transported in a single trip. The last time Marineland moved beluga whales was in 2021, when they sent five to Mystic Aquarium. Three of those whales died shortly after arriving, but Demers said those belugas had health problems and the aquariums “took a risk” in transporting them.

But he’s relieved that a solution is on the horizon for the whales, which have become a bargaining chip between Marineland, the province of Ontario, and the federal government.

“I’ve been trying to emphasize, basically, for over a decade, that these animals need to be removed,” he said, adding that he was glad the minister was no longer considering the idea of ​​sending the whales to a sanctuary that hasn’t yet been built. “I think this sanctuary needs to be built as soon as possible, but anyone who thinks these whales had a chance there is kidding themselves.”

Animal rights groups, however, said it was “absolutely heartbreaking” that the whales would never have the chance to live in the proposed sanctuary. “Given Marineland’s appalling threat to execute the 30 belugas and four dolphins, the minister had no choice but to offer these conditional approvals,” Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, said in a statement. “It is also essential to ensure that whales will not be bred in the United States, which is illegal in Canada. These animals must be the last generation to suffer in captivity.”

Kristy Burgess, a former beluga trainer, said she was thrilled to hear the whales were headed to the United States.

“I’m very excited. These are very good facilities with world-class veterinarians. Highly trained staff and in places with real oversight,” she said.

Despite its threats to kill the whales as recently as this week, Marineland said in a statement that it was grateful to the federal government for tentatively approving the export permits “prioritizing the lives of these remarkable marine mammals.”