Little Grey and Little White, two beluga whales who had spent eight years on display at an entertainment park in China, have moved into their new home: a seaside sanctuary in Iceland.
The belugas’ lucky break began when the Changfeng Ocean World was purchased in 2012 by the British company Merlin Entertainments, which operates family attractions around the world. Merlin’s non-profit sister organization, Sea Life Trust, operates aquariums around the world, but the two companies have a longstanding policy of not displaying whales and dolphins at any of their facilities.
Little Grey and Little White on their first day in their new sanctuary home.
Changfeng had three belugas on display, so Merlin and Sea Life immediately began making plans to move them to a sanctuary where they could have a more natural life. One of the belugas died before she could be included in the move, but the other two, Little Grey and Little White, were flown to Iceland in 2019, spent the winter in an indoor pool, and were moved on Friday to the sanctuary’s care area.
A statement from Sea Life Trust says: “Little Grey and Little White are now in their bayside care pool and will need a short period of time to acclimatize to their new natural environment and all the outdoor elements before their final release into the wider [10-acre] sanctuary in Klettsvik Bay in the Westman Islands off the south coast of Iceland. The expert team and the independent vets were with Little Grey and Little White throughout the move and said they are healthy and are feeding after the short trip from their landside care facility back to the sea.”
The cost of construction of the sanctuary, along with the transport of Little Grey and Little White, was covered by a donation from Merlin to Sea Life Trust. And Sea Life, in turn, is being advised in its work by the British charity Whale and Dolphin Conservation, which supports and leads whale and dolphin conservation field projects and research around the world.
Once the two belugas have adapted to their new life, Sea Life Trust says it will consider opening the sanctuary to a few more belugas currently on display in concrete tanks.
“We are full of praise for Merlin’s principled stand on not keeping whales and dolphins in concrete tanks,” said Dr. Lori Marino, president of the Whale Sanctuary Project, which is working in Port Hilford, Nova Scotia, to create a seaside sanctuary for whales currently in other marine entertainment parks. “And we congratulate Merlin Entertainments and Sea Life Trust on giving these two belugas a much better life in a natural environment.”
The Beginning of a Sea Change
According to a recent report, China has at least 76 dolphinariums and marine parks, and at least 25 more planned over the next few years. But Burleigh says he observes significant changes already taking place. But James Burleigh, a board member of Sea Life Trust and Divisional Director for Merlin Conservation, Welfare and Engagement, hopes that relocating Little Grey and Little White from Changfeng Ocean World to the new sanctuary will have some effect on the growing marine park industry in China.
Beluga whales at Changfeng Ocean World under its former management
“When you look at what people go and pay money for and what they enjoy as families in America, now, it’s very different from how they did it 20 years ago,” he says. “Your experiences are totally different, and the technologies are different. You’ve got virtual reality, augmented reality, all sorts of stuff. People don’t need to be in a pool swimming with dolphins. They can have that essential experience in different ways.”
He believes the same will unfold in China. “The world will change, and people will change, and we’ve had a lot of support there. And people understand where the direction is. And for us, we just have to set an example and do it the way we do it.”
That change is evident all over the world. In 2016, the National Aquarium in Baltimore announced plans to create a seaside sanctuary for its dolphins and is currently focusing on several possible locations in the Caribbean.
“You’ve got virtual reality, augmented reality, all sorts of stuff. People don’t need to be in a pool swimming with dolphins.”Last year, Canada passed legislation that bans keeping whales, dolphins and porpoises in captivity for entertainment. On June 10th, the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in favor of Senate Bill S-203, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act. The bill phases out the captivity of cetaceans (i.e. whales, dolphins and porpoises) in Canada, except for rescues, rehabilitation, licensed scientific research, or cetaceans’ best interests. It also prohibits the trade, possession, capture and breeding of cetaceans.
And earlier this year in Australia, the Dolphin Marine Conservation Park in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, announced a plan to work with animal protection groups to relocate its three dolphins from their concrete tanks to a semi-open sea enclosure in a sectioned-off area of the marina.
The change in public opinion, along with the commitment of aquariums and entertainment parks to transfer their whales and dolphins to sanctuaries, is part of a yet-wider societal change. In 1986, the Performing Animal Welfare Society welcomed first of many elephants to its sanctuary. And today, there are numerous sanctuaries for elephants, great apes, big cats and other animals who have been transferred from zoos and research facilities.
Happily, that change is now reaching whales and dolphins, too. And with a whole new life ahead of them, Little White and Little Grey are in the vanguard of how that change is touching the lives of these amazing animals.
We congratulate Merlin/Sea Life Trust and wish all the best for Little White and Little Grey.