Beluga dies at Vancouver Aquarium
Qila, a 21-year-old female beluga born at the Vancouver Aquarium, died on Wednesday, renewing the debate over captive whales and dolphins at the facility.
A cause of death wasn’t known as of Wednesday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the aquarium said.
A necropsy was performed later in the day, but no comment from the aquarium was expected before Thursday.
Qila’s mother, Aurora, is the lone beluga left at the aquarium.
“Now Aurora is by herself and it’s a very tricky situation, to say the least, for her mental state to be alone,” said Sara Dubois, an adjunct professor of animal welfare at the University of B.C. and chief scientific officer in the province for the SPCA.
In July, Postmedia News quoted animal-behaviour experts worried about Qila’s repetitive behaviour, a condition known as stereotypy that can indicate boredom or stress.
Qila would regularly swim one length of the pool upright and the other length upside down, behaviour aquarium president John Nightingale said at the time was partly normal resting behaviour.
One of those who disagreed was Dubois, who’s also the founder of the Animals in Science Policy Institute. “That was concerning behaviour,” Dubois said Wednesday.
Aurora, who is around 30 years old, belonged to a pod known as the Western Hudson Bay population, which has an average lifespan of 15 years, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
When she was born on July 23, 1995, Qila became the first beluga conceived and born in a Canadian aquarium.