Beluga whales from Canada headed to Mystic
MYSTIC — Despite a lawsuit filed last September over the transfer of five beluga whales from Canada to Mystic Aquarium for research, the animals are scheduled to travel to the facility as early as this weekend.
The aquarium confirmed Tuesday it secured export and import permits for the move, and has adhered to the required conditions outlined in the documents. A team from the aquarium is currently in place at Marineland in Canada evaluating the whales.
The belugas are set to be moved this weekend at the earliest, but aquarium officials are still sorting out the specific timing of the transfer. The five new whales are four females and one male, the aquarium said. Three of the whales are 7 years old and the other two are 6.
The aquarium currently has three beluga whales — Kela, Juno and Natasha.
In late 2020, the aquarium delayed the arrival of the whales after a lawsuit was filed by a Connecticut animal rights group.
The Darien-based Friends of Animals filed a lawsuit in September that claimed the five whales would be harmed by the move. The aquarium said it would not import the whales before March 31 to let a judge decide on the suit, according to Dec. 23, 2020, court filings cited by the Hartford Courant. A judge ruled against the animal welfare group in March, allowing the aquarium to move forward with the import.
“It’s a shame that Mystic prevailed in moving these belugas under the guise of research that’s necessary to prevent belugas from going extinct in the wild,” said a statement from the organization’s president, Priscilla Feral, on Wednesday. “You would think after all these years of already doing research on their belugas ... scientists at Mystic would understand what belugas need to thrive — lots of open ocean space and socialization, which they are robbed of in captivity.”
Animal Welfare Institute, a nonprofit animal welfare organization, said on Tuesday it still has reservations about the transfer.
“We are concerned that this export is apparently occurring without the Canadian agencies officially confirming that their export permit prohibits breeding or commercial display of the animals,” said a statement from Dr. Naomi Rose, the marine mammal scientist at AWI. “And we are alarmed that this transfer is moving forward amid so much uncertainty over the health of these belugas.”
But Mystic Aquarium said while the permit to allow the export from Canada expired during the review period, the aquarium got the permit renewed.
On Aug. 27, 2020, the National Oceanic Atlantic Administration Fisheries issued a permit to Mystic Aquarium for the import of five captive-born beluga whales for scientific research.
Mystic Aquarium has a 750,000-gallon outdoor habitat for its current beluga whales, which the facility said is the largest in the nation.