TORONTO — Ottawa has endorsed a plan to move Canada’s last remaining captive whales to aquariums in the U-S and Spain.
There are 30 belugas and four dolphins at Marineland, the shuttered theme park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, that still face mass euthanasia should the deal fall through.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has issued the first batch of permits to move the whales and will issue different permits closer to the move, which is expected in the next few months.
It recently issued permits for the whales and dolphins under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, otherwise known as CITES permits.
A Fisheries spokesman says the department is co-ordinating with multiple federal agencies.
Marineland says it is a, quote, “extraordinarily complex undertaking” that is believed to be unprecedented in scale.
The belugas and dolphins are set to head to five marine parks: Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, SeaWorld locations in San Antonio and San Diego and Oceanografic Valencia.
The American consortium says Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, where Marineland sent five belugas to in 2021, will also help with the move.