4th Beluga Whale Dies at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium

Another beluga has died at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, and scrutiny is intensifying, ABC 7 reports. Osiris, a 26-year-old beluga moved this summer from Marineland in Ontario, is the fourth beluga to die at Shedd in under a month and the third from that Canadian transfer. Animal welfare advocates are questioning the whales' condition before the move and how the emergency relocation was handled after Marineland's owner warned the animals could be euthanized if new homes were not found.

Since Canada banned keeping and breeding cetaceans in 2019, about 20 of Marineland's 55 belugas have died, said Animal Justice's Camille Labchuke, who criticized what she called poor transparency around the transfers. Thirty whales in total, plus four dolphins, were moved from Marineland to new homes at five different locations, the CBC reports; Shedd took 10 of them. Canadian officials maintain the operation gave the whales their "best chance of survival." Shedd, which also lost longtime resident Beethoven this month, is awaiting necropsy results. Another Marineland beluga died at an aquarium in Spain this month, and Shedd says it is concerned about one of the other belugas it took in, as it has been experiencing feeding difficulties. The rest of the animals were sent to SeaWorlds in San Antonio and San Diego and an aquarium in Georgia, Global News reports.