A beluga whale has died just days after being transported hundreds of miles to a Chicago aquarium from a closed park in Ontario, following efforts to rehome Canada’s final captive whales.
The 23-year-old female beluga, named Peekachu, died unexpectedly on Tuesday while staff were attempting to administer rehydration therapy, according to a statement from the Shedd Aquarium. Peekachu was among eight belugas transferred from Ontario's Marineland to the facility over the summer, with four arriving in July and four arriving this month.
“Peekachu was unique,” the aquarium said in a statement. “She was blind in one eye and one of the smaller whales. Despite what could have been a limitation, Peekachu had little trouble socializing and finding her way around a new habitat.”
Marineland closed permanently in 2024, prompting an urgent effort to relocate its 30 beluga whales and four dolphins before they were euthanized. The Canadian government approved a plan in January allowing the animals to be exported to the Shedd Aquarium alongside four additional marine parks.
Twenty whales — 19 belugas and one killer whale — have died at Marineland since 2019, according to provincial government data obtained through freedom-of-information laws and official statements.
The complex operation to bring the whales to the Shedd Aquarium saw them hoisted in custom-made slings and held in temperature-controlled containers, aquarium officials previously told The Associated Press. Their behavior and health were carefully monitored to the minute once they arrived, officials said.
The whale showed “early signs of progress” in the days after the trip, but blood samples taken Tuesday concerned caretakers that she was dehydrated. As aquarium attendants tried to revitalize her with food and medicine that evening, she died, according to the aquarium.
The aquarium said it is committed to sharing a necropsy report of the whale “as soon as we have one.”
“While our time with Peekachu was shorter than any of us hoped, she made an immediate and lasting impression on all of us who had the chance to meet her,” the aquarium said.
Marineland's whales and dolphins will also move to Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, SeaWorld locations in San Antonio and San Diego, and Oceanografic Valencia in Spain.
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