Beluga Whales Forced to Perform In China Now Rehomed In Icelandic Sanctuary
Their sanctuary ‘retirement’ is being hailed as one of the most important developments in captive whale and dolphin protection in decades.
Credit: Facebook/Sea Life Trust Beluga Whale Sanctuary
A pair of beluga whales have completed their historic relocation of some 6,000 miles from a Chinese aquarium to an innovative new sanctuary in Iceland.
Little White and Little Grey are the first residents at the world's first open water sanctuary for belugas, created by a partnership between the Whale and Dolphin Conservation and the Sea Life Trust.
Plans for their historic move have required months of expert planning. Weighing in at 900kg each, and measuring four metres in length, each whale had to be lifted by crane from the aquarium into specially built tanks. They were loaded onto two lorries and then flown to Iceland’s Keflavik Airport by cargo plane, in June 2019.
The belugas had to spend time building up their strength, so that they could adapt to the sea currents and tides, and add blubber in order to protect them from the colder water temperatures.
Now, they have been successfully relocated to the sanctuary in Klettsvik Bay, after being transported from their land-based facility via truck and ferry.
They are currently residing in a care pool, and once they acclimatise to their outdoor environment, the pair will be released into the wider sanctuary - a sea pen of over 30,000 square metres.
“We hope to show that Little White and Little Grey thrive in this bay, and we’re conducting a research study … that will hopefully show that there’s a welfare benefit to being in a natural environment like this”, says Andy Bool, head of Sea Life Trust.
For the past nine years, the whales performed for visitors at Changfeng Ocean World in Shanghai. Before that, they were held at a Russian research center, having been captured from the sea at about two years old.
Belugas typically live to 40 years, and so Little White and Little Grey, at just 12 years old, should have plenty of time to enjoy their newfound freedom.
There are some 300 belugas held captive around the world, and since most would not be able to survive in the open sea, this first-of-its-kind sanctuary signals a huge moment of hope for their rescue and rehabilitation.
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