Third beluga whale relocated from Canadian theme park to Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium dies
by Brad Matthews · The Washington TimesAnother one of the 10 beluga whales relocated to Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium from the closed Canadian theme park Marineland has died, the third to do so.
The aquarium announced the death Monday of 26-year-old female beluga Osiris, who arrived at Shedd Aquarium with three other females in July. Officials said in a release that Osiris was “a whale of clinical concern” from the time she arrived and that she was not as consistent at eating as the other whales.
On Monday, Shedd staff saw changes in the way Osiris behaved and breathed, then moved her into a medical habitat for care. Despite that, the whale’s condition “declined rapidly,” aquarium officials said, and she died.
Aquarium officials also said that “like many species, belugas can mask discomfort or underlying concerns that are not immediately visible.” Osiris was the third of the Marineland female whales who went to Shedd. She died after the death of Peekachu on Aug. 25 and of Rain in early September.
A fourth beluga, the male Beethoven, also died at Shedd around the time that Rain died. Beethoven was not one of the relocated whales and had been living at Shedd for years.
A full necropsy is being conducted on Osiris to figure out the cause of her death. Shedd officials said that “we continue to await results from analyses related to our previous losses. We will share what we learn when those findings are confirmed.”
In addition to the deaths at Shedd, one of the two Marineland beluga whales sent to the Oceanografic Valencia facility in Spain in August has also died. The Spanish aquarium says on its website that on Sept. 17 the female Jelly Bean died after days of difficulty eating and intensive care from staff.
Belugas from Marineland were also sent to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and to SeaWorld theme parks in San Antonio and San Diego.
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On Friday, the Georgia Aquarium said on social media that its two relocants are “integrating well with the other whales, interacting with trainers, and adjusting to their new habitat,” despite some loss of appetite for both whales.
SeaWorld spokesperson AnneMarie Iturrizaga told The Associated Press that the relocated beluga whales at its facilities are in “stable health.”
The whales were relocated after the Canadian government agreed to the plan this year so that they would not be euthanized, according to AP. Marineland put itself up for sale in 2023 and was closed to the public in 2024.
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