In a move months in the making, three male beluga whales from a shuttered marine park in Canada were gently lowered into a pool at SeaWorld San Diego on Saturday, saving the animals from possibly being euthanized.
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Xavier, who is 13, and Cyprus and Jasper, who are both 9 years of age, traveled more than 2,500 miles to San Diego from Marineland, an animal theme park and aquarium in Niagara Falls, which closed in 2024.
The three whales’ 12-hour, land-and-air journey to San Diego went smoothly, but “their whole world flipped upside down,” said Cindie Sweitzer, a zoological specialist senior at SeaWorld San Diego. “They’d lived their entire lives at Marineland. We want to give them time to acclimate to their new surroundings.”
Rescued belugas arrive to San Diego Airport. (Courtesy of SeaWorld San Diego)
Rescued beluga whale arrives to SeaWorld San Diego. (Courtesy of SeaWorld San Diego)
Rescued beluga arrives to SeaWorld San Diego. (Courtesy of SeaWorld San Diego)
Rescued beluga whale arrives to SeaWorld San Diego.(Courtesy of SeaWorld San Diego)
Rescued beluga whale swims around at SeaWorld San Diego. (Courtesy of SeaWorld San Diego)
SeaWorld San Diego team celebrates successful rescue of 3 belugas whales. (Courtesy of SeaWorld San Diego)
The carefully choreographed operation, which required months of planning and relied on dozens of animal care experts from both the U.S. and Canada, was dubbed a rescue because the whales no longer had an aquarium to call home.
The three cetaceans who came to San Diego via a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 cargo plane are among 30 whales that had been at risk of being euthanized if they could not be relocated from Marineland.
The rescue effort was made possible by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which entered into an agreement with the SeaWorld parks in San Diego and San Antonio, as well as the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, for the transport of the whales to their new homes.
Closed to the public for the last two years, the Canadian park was no longer financially able to care for the marine mammals, ranging in age from 6 to 32. The three whales relocated to San Diego will raise the park’s number of belugas to six.
Of the 30 whales to be rescued, SeaWorld will be getting the largest share.
The three belugas that traveled to San Diego on Saturday were each placed on padded stretchers that featured small holes for their pectoral fins. They were then placed in individual transport boxes “filled half-way with water that’s the same temperature that they are used to,” Sweitzer said. “Two people kept an eye on each box, and kept them wet.”
The crew made sure the water level wasn’t high enough to slosh around the inside of the aircraft, in case the plane encountered turbulence.
The belugas — housed in customized, cold-water containers — spent close to 4 1/2 hours in the air before they landed in San Diego just after 7 a.m. Saturday. Workers then transported the animals to the Wild Arctic area of SeaWorld, wrapping up the transfer about 8:30 a.m.
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“It is not an easy task to move 1,500-pound whales across country,” Sweitzer said. “There is an element of stress that is involved in that for the whale.”
“Our main focus and priority right now is their welfare and creating the best life we can for them. That’s going to look different in many ways. Exploring their main habitat when it’s time for them to go out there. Meeting our entire crew at their own pace. Learning our behaviors versus their behaviors.”
“Even seeing guests in our underwater viewing is going to be new for them, even though they had underwater viewing at the Marineland park,” Sweitzer said.
Park officials said they currently don’t know when the belugas will be introduced to the general public.
There are eight whales still to be relocated from Marineland, said SeaWorld spokesperson Tracy Spahr. Two will be going to the Shedd Aquarium, four more to SeaWorld San Antonio, and two to Oceanogràfic València — an aquarium in Spain.
While transporting large mammals like whales, dolphins and polar bears by plane isn’t unheard of — SeaWorld has been doing it for decades, says Eric Otjen, vice president of zoological operations at the San Diego park. What’s unprecedented is the collaboration of multiple aquariums and two countries pulling off a rescue of 30 whales in a short period of time, he said.
“They’re not just going to one place. They’re going to four different places in the United States, so to get all the logistics done is a monumental task,” Otjen said. “This is classified as a rescue because the whales don’t have a place to live, but it’s not a rescue because the whales’ health and well-being were never in doubt.
“The Canadian trainers have been pouring their hearts and souls into these animals for years, so they’re losing a big part of their identity. We’re sensitive to that, too, and as sad as it is, we’re also really honored and privileged to be able to offer the whales a new place to stay.”
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SeaWorld San Diego to rescue 3 whales from shuttered Niagara Falls Marineland