A beluga whale is transported by a group of experts from Marineland and U.S. aquariums onto a truck via a sling at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ont., on Aug. 12, 2026. The Canadian Press/Carlos Osorio
The largest collective move of captive whales is getting closer to completion, with a fourth cohort leaving Marineland on Friday night.
The park says a team of specialists lifted three belugas–males named Cyprus, Jasper and Xavier – into tanks earlier in the evening, to be loaded onto a plane bound for SeaWorld in San Diego.
After this, eight belugas and four dolphins will remain at the shuttered attraction in Niagara Falls, Ont., all of them set to be shipped abroad by the end of the month.
The park, which closed two years ago and is up for sale, has said it can’t afford to care for the whales any longer.
Last year, Marineland struck a deal to sell all 30 of its belugas to an aquarium in China, but the federal government pulled the plug on the arrangement, arguing it wasn’t in the whales’ best interests.
The park then said it would euthanize all the whales if Ottawa didn’t provide emergency funding.
The move now underway is part of a deal with a consortium of American and Spanish aquariums.
Two more are planned, including an overnight flight to transfer dolphins and belugas to Oceanografic Valencia in Spain.
The previous operations have shipped whales to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, SeaWorld in San Antonio, and the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.
Andrew Burns, Marineland’s adviser, has said the series of moves that began on July 20 has gone “exceptionally well,” and the whales have adjusted to their new homes.
