{"id":671613,"date":"2026-09-04T04:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T04:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/671613\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T04:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T04:15:17","slug":"two-more-beluga-whales-die-at-chicago-aquarium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/671613\/","title":{"rendered":"Two more beluga whales die at Chicago aquarium"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Two more beluga whales have died at Chicago\u2019s Shedd Aquarium, including one that was rehomed<\/a> at the facility just weeks earlier as part of an international effort to rescue Canada\u2019s last captive whales, the aquarium announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> as caretakers tried to revitalize it.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The aquarium did not indicate the cause of the whales\u2019 deaths in its announcement. \u201cNecropsies, blood tests and additional exams\u201d of their bodies are in process, it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese deaths were unexpected and there is still much we do not know about what led to them,\u201d officials said in the statement.<\/p>\n

Shedd Aquarium accepted 10 beluga whales as part of the mission to rescue<\/a> 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 \u2014 young males named Gimli and Yukon \u2014 from the Canadian park.<\/p>\n

Twenty whales \u2014 19 belugas and one killer whale \u2014 had died at Marineland since 2019, according to provincial government data obtained through Freedom-of-Information laws and official statements.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Canadian Minister of Fisheries Joanne Thompson said she was \u201csaddened\u201d to hear of Rain\u2019s death. Canada\u2019s government \u201chas taken reasonable steps to ensure the safe rescue of the whales,\u201d she said in a statement to AP.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy thoughts are with the care staff who worked tirelessly to support Rain and the other belugas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgia Aquarium, SeaWorld locations in San Diego and San Antonio, and Oceanogr\u00e0fic\u202fValencia in Spain are also taking in the animals rescued from Marineland.<\/p>\n

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The two beluga whales rehomed at Georgia Aquarium are \u201csettling in nicely,\u201d although it will take months before they are fully adjusted, the aquarium said in an email to AP. Most of the rescued whales in SeaWorld\u2019s care are in stable condition, although a handful are \u201ceating less consistently than usual,\u201d according to AnneMarie Iturrizaga, a spokesperson for the company that owns SeaWorld.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Mayes-Osterman is a corps member for The Associated Press\/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America<\/a> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Two more beluga whales have died at Chicago\u2019s Shedd Aquarium, including one that was rehomed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[273],"tags":[100,995,10167,18,3334,19,59859,5087,17,283902,4324,133,4077,4695,461],"class_list":["post-671613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-canada","tag-chicago","tag-eire","tag-general-news","tag-ie","tag-il-state-wire","tag-illinois","tag-ireland","tag-joanne-thompson","tag-ontario","tag-science","tag-u-s-news","tag-whales","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117210836308968603","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}