Nearly two weeks after arriving at SeaWorld San Diego, three rescued beluga whales from Marineland are still adjusting to their new environment and have yet to meet up with the park’s resident belugas.
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SeaWorld says the young whales, two of whom are 9 years old and the other 13, will be integrated into the existing pod gradually.
“The whales are adjusting well,” said SeaWorld San Diego spokesperson Tracy Spahr on Thursday. “We are gradually introducing the whales to their new pod through a carefully phased process. We are taking our time to allow them to acclimate to one another and become comfortable in their new surroundings. Once they are fully acclimated, we will assess their individual comfort levels and gradually determine when they are ready to go on exhibit.”
It’s still unclear when the newly arrived belugas will join the three resident whales — ages 19, 24 and 42 — but it should happen in the near term, Spahr said. The newly arrived cetaceans are currently in a behind-the-scenes pool in the park’s Wild Arctic area that is separate from the area where the existing belugas are housed.
The Marineland whales arrived in San Diego after a 12-hour journey that involved initially placing them on padded stretchers that featured small holes for their pectoral fins. They were then placed in individual transport boxes filled halfway with water that’s the same temperature that they are accustomed to.
In all, 30 whales from the shuttered Marineland park in Niagara Falls have been taken in by accredited U.S. aquariums and one in Spain because the Canadian park was no longer able to care for them, and they faced euthanasia if they were not relocated. San Diego’s sister park in San Antonio has received 13 of the whales.
The San Diego park’s update comes amid news that two of the recently rescued whales have died at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. In addition, a third whale that had been a longtime resident at the aquarium has died as well. Shedd reported Wednesday that two of the deaths involved Beethoven, a 34-year-old that already had resided at Shedd, and a 20-year-old female, Rain, who had arrived last month from Canada.
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The Chicago Tribune reported that necropsies and other exams are underway to help explain what contributed to the whales’ deaths, according to Shedd.
SeaWorld San Diego told the Union-Tribune that “Our hearts go out to the entire Shedd Aquarium team during this difficult time.”
The San Diego park appears to be taking a more measured approach with the whales’ assimilation into their new home compared to some of theparks. In an interview last month with Eric Otjen, vice president of zoological operations at the San Diego park, he said that it was only two to five days before the Marineland whales transported to other U.S. parks got acquainted with the existing pods of belugas.
By the time the whales arrived in San Diego, however, it was clear the park was going to take it more slowly before introducing the new arrivals.
“Our main focus and priority right now is their welfare and creating the best life we can for them,” Cindie Sweitzer, a zoological specialist senior at SeaWorld San Diego, told the Union-Tribune the morning of their arrival in San Diego. “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 area is going to be new for them, even though they had underwater viewing at the Marineland park,” he added.
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The Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.
