Two Belugas Die at Chicago Aquarium After Transfers, Including One from Marineland

Two more belugas have died at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, including Rain, a 20-year-old whale transferred from Marineland in Ontario just weeks ago. Beethoven, a 34-year-old beluga that had lived at Shedd for decades, also died Wednesday afternoon.

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Immediate efforts by animal care and veterinary teams to provide lifesaving measures

Shedd Aquarium said its animal care and veterinary teams made “immediate efforts by animal care and veterinary teams to provide lifesaving measures,” but could not save the whales. The aquarium said the deaths were difficult and that concrete answers would take time. Necropsies, blood tests and additional examinations are underway.

Marineland said it was “deeply saddened” by Rain’s death and expressed sympathy for the trainers and staff who cared for her. Rain was among 30 belugas and four dolphins recently moved from the closed tourist attraction to five destinations: Shedd, SeaWorld facilities in San Diego and San Antonio, Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and Oceanografic Valencia in Spain.

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These losses are hard, made more difficult by the fact that it will take time to get concrete answers about what led to their passings

The relocation followed years of uncertainty at Marineland. The park closed to the public in 2024, is up for sale and said it was running out of money. The federal government blocked an earlier plan to send the animals to an aquarium in China, after which Marineland threatened to euthanize them without emergency funding. The animals were the last captive whales and dolphins in Canada after a 2019 federal ban, although Marineland received an exception.

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Deeply saddened

Another Marineland beluga, Peekachu, died at Shedd the previous week after becoming severely dehydrated. An investigation into that death remains open. The whales received health clearances before each transfer, with Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson responsible for final approval. Earlier transfers to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut also ended in deaths: two whales died within a year and a third died two years after the move. Mystic attributed those deaths to pre-existing conditions, while Marineland disputed the explanation.

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Our thoughts are with the trainers and staff who loved and supported Rain