A troubled park closed

Marineland of Canada shut down after years of financial trouble, investigations, whistleblower accounts, and inspections tied to animal suffering.

Many whales had died

Since 2019, 19 belugas and one killer whale died at Marineland, leaving four dolphins and 30 belugas with nowhere obvious to go.

Sanctuary plans failed

Animal welfare groups wanted some belugas moved to a proposed 110-acre coastal sanctuary in Nova Scotia. It had not been built, and the whales went elsewhere.

Transfers began instead

Some animals went to Spain, SeaWorld sites, Georgia Aquarium, and Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, which received 10 belugas from Marineland.

Then three died

Within eight days, two newly arrived belugas, Peekachu and Rain, died at Shedd, along with Beethoven, a beluga who had lived there for decades.

The cause is unknown

Shedd is waiting on necropsy results. The deaths have still sharpened attention on a wider question about keeping belugas in aquariums at all.

Shedd has history

Shedd's first belugas were taken from the wild in Canada in 1991. Two more wild-caught belugas died the next year after an anti-parasitic drug.

“These whales died to serve a tourist attraction”

Captivity limits behavior

In the wild, belugas migrate, hunt, live in complex groups, and raise young. Captive tanks cannot offer that range of movement or choice.

Boredom becomes harm

Neuroscientist Lori Marino argues that small, artificial, unchanging spaces can be severe deprivation for animals with belugas' intelligence.

“For an animal like that, with a brain like that, that’s torture.”

Aquariums defend care

Shedd points to research saying dynamic enclosures, enrichment, management, and social bonds can predict welfare better than space alone.

Stress shows up

Captive marine mammals may swim in repetitive patterns, regurgitate food, move their heads over and over, or grind teeth on hard surfaces.

The sales pitch changed

Early aquariums were sold as entertainment. As animal welfare and environmental movements grew, many institutions recast themselves as conservation centers.

Conservation claims are mixed

AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums spent $252 million on conservation in 2022, but that was about 5 percent of their operations and construction spending.

Wild capture continues

The AZA says 80 percent of animals in member aquariums come from the wild. Critics see that as clashing with the promise to protect wild animals.

Encounters raise doubts

Shedd and other aquariums sell close-up animal encounters. A 2021 review found much of the research used to defend such programs lacked rigor.

“the justification for using [encounter programs] within zoos remains questionable”

The core question remains

Marino says the issue is not which aquarium is best, but whether long-lived, social animals should spend their lives in tanks for public display.

“It’s the best of something that doesn’t work.”