Inside the Wild Rescue Mission That Took 4 Beluga Whales to Chicago
A team of experts successfully transported four beluga whales from a bankrupt aquarium in Niagara Falls to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. This complex logistical operation was part of a larger effort to rehome animals from the closed Marineland facility.
Why it matters
It highlights the logistical and ethical challenges of managing large-scale animal welfare rescues when commercial facilities fail.
Tang and Charlie Jacobsma, the Shedd’s director of animal behavior and training, both accompanied beluga whales Acadia, Lillooet, Osiris, and Sierra on the journey from their Niagara Falls enclosures to Toronto’s Pearson Airport to Chicago. Two additional belugas joined the flight on a chartered Boeing 777 freighter, but were then transported to an aquarium in San Antonio.
The whales were living in Marineland of Niagara Falls, a notorious, longrunning aquarium and amusement park that went bankrupt after the death of its owners and closed to the public in 2024. As it ran out of money to care for the animals, the park had previously implored the Canadian government for assistance. In 2025, Marineland announced that it had made the “devastating decision” to consider euthanasia if it could not relocate the animals.
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