Beluga whales finally arrive at Connecticut aquarium after legal battle
The whales were flown from Ontario to Connecticut on Friday, secured in special stretchers inside individual tanks and accompanied by a veterinarian and other marine-life experts.
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Three Beluga whales
arrived Friday night at their new home in a Connecticut aquarium after a
legal battle to import them and two others from Canada.
The
whales were flown from Ontario to Connecticut on Friday, secured in
special stretchers inside individual tanks and accompanied by a
veterinarian and other marine-life experts.
Accompanied
by a police escort, they arrived in Mystic on three tractor-trailers at
about 7:40 p.m., where they were lifted on their stretchers by cranes
into their new habitat. The transfer from truck to habitat took about a
half hour to complete.
The remaining two Belugas were set to arrive at Mystic Aquarium early Saturday from Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
The whales were flown by a chartered cargo plane from Marineland in Ontario, Canada to Groton Airport in two separate flights, then by ground convoy to the Aquarium in specially-designed containers on flatbed trucks. ( Credit: Mystic Aquarium)
Government
officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada last month approved the
export of the whales, seven months after U.S. officials approved the
move.
Connecticut-based
Friends of Animals and other activists sought to block the transport in
a lawsuit last fall against the U.S. Commerce secretary and National
Marine Fisheries Service, which had approved the research permit. A
federal judge in March declined to issue an injunction.
The
whales, which range in age from 7 to 12, were born in captivity and
officials said they cannot safely be released into the ocean.
Mystic
officials said the five whales left an overcrowded habitat with about
50 other Belugas in Canada to join three other Belugas at the center of
important research designed to benefit the species in the wild.
The animals will be trained to voluntarily give blood, saliva, blowhole air and other samples in exchange for rewards.
“Having
eight animals certainly helps when trying to draw conclusions with the
research,” said Tracy Romano, Mystic’s vice president of research and
chief scientist. “It’s priceless to be able to work with trained animals
and be able to get biological samples on a regular basis and all of
this will help us interpret what we’re seeing in the wild and help with
the management and conservation of the species.”
Names/Size
of Whales:
- Havana, a female weighing 924 pounds and 10’4” long
- Jetta, a female weighing 762 pounds and 10’3” long
- Kharabali, a female, weighing 818 pounds and 10’8” long
- Sahara, a female weighing 1,028 pounds and 11’4”
- Havok weighing 1,192 pounds and 11’1”
By JESSICA HILL and PAT EATON-ROBB
Photos and video provided by Mystic Aquarium.
(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
