2 more beluga whales die at Chicago aquarium, including 1 recently rescued from Canada

CHICAGO (AP) — Two more beluga whales have died at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, including one that was rehomed at the facility just weeks earlier as part of an international effort to rescue Canada’s last captive whales, the aquarium announced Wednesday.

Rain, a 20-year-old female, was the second to die out of a group of four whales that were moved to the Chicago aquarium in mid-August from a shuttered water park in Ontario. A whale named Peekachu died last week as caretakers tried to revitalize it.

The third whale to die, a 34-year-old male named Beethoven, had lived at Shedd Aquarium for decades, the aquarium said in an announcement.

The aquarium did not indicate the cause of the whales’ deaths in its announcement. “Necropsies, blood tests and additional exams” of their bodies are in process, it said.

“These deaths were unexpected and there is still much we do not know about what led to them,” officials said in the statement.

Shedd Aquarium accepted 10 beluga whales as part of the mission to rescue 30 of them and four dolphins at Marineland, a water park in Ontario that closed its doors years ago and lost the ability to care for the animals. The Chicago aquarium announced Tuesday it welcomed the last two of those 10 — young males named Gimli and Yukon — from the Canadian park.

Twenty whales — 19 belugas and one killer whale — had died at Marineland since 2019, according to provincial government data obtained through Freedom-of-Information laws and official statements.

Officials at Shedd Aquarium previously told The Associated Press that moving the beluga whales was a complex, meticulously monitored process. The whales were hoisted in custom-made slings and held in temperature-controlled containers. Since they arrived, their health and behavior have been monitored on a minute-to-minute basis, they said.

Canadian Minister of Fisheries Joanne Thompson said she was “saddened” to hear of Rain’s death. Canada’s government “has taken reasonable steps to ensure the safe rescue of the whales,” she said in a statement to AP.

“My thoughts are with the care staff who worked tirelessly to support Rain and the other belugas.”

Georgia Aquarium, SeaWorld locations in San Diego and San Antonio, and Oceanogràfic Valencia in Spain are also taking in the animals rescued from Marineland.

___

Mayes-Osterman is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.