The Whale Sanctuary Blog

Five Fundamental Rights of Whales & Dolphins

Tom White, author of "In Defense of Dolphins" talks about how flourishing is the key to understanding the argument for ...

Posted September 5, 2022 in News, Opinion

The Death of Nakai and the Future of Captive Whales

The young orca Nakai, who was born at SeaWorld San Diego and lived in a tank there all of his ...

Posted August 8, 2022 in News, Opinion

New Legislation Would End Whale Captivity in United States

A bill has been introduced into the United States Congress to prevent the future capture and breeding of whales for ...

Posted July 28, 2022 in News

Summer Newsletter 2022 – Creating the Whale Sanctuary

Here is a copy of our Summer Newsletter: "Creating the Whale Sanctuary." Read about progress at the sanctuary site and ...

Posted June 20, 2022 in News

Independent Veterinarians Complete Their First Assessment of Tokitae (Lolita) at Miami Seaquarium

An update on the progress of the independent assessment of the physical and mental health of the orca Tokitae (generally ...

Posted June 2, 2022 in News

A Whale of an Art Show!

Students at a Texas elementary school raise funds and awareness to help orcas and belugas It all began five years ...

Posted May 3, 2022 in News

Wendy McCaw: a Lifeline for Animals

The Wendy P. McCaw Foundation has been the major supporter of the Whale Sanctuary Project since 2017. Wendy's work protects ...

Posted April 22, 2022 in News

Lolita/Tokitae to be Examined by Independent Vets

  Mayor Danielle Levine Cava, entrepreneur and conservationist Pritam Singh, and Whale Sanctuary Project Executive Director Charles Vinick. (View the ...

Posted March 23, 2022 in News

How to Be a Successful Whale or Dolphin

How whales teach their young, learn from their families and friends, and pass along their culture to new generations.

Posted February 21, 2022 in News

Our Year-End “Ask Us Anything” Webinar

In this webinar, Dr. Lori Marino and Charles Vinick answer a wide range of questions: from when the sanctuary will ...

Posted December 17, 2021 in News

Public Notice re. Canadian Navigable Waters Act

The following is an official public notice regarding our request to the Canadian Minister of Transport for approval of the ...

Posted December 1, 2021 in News

Come Inside the Operations Center!

Today, Giving Tuesday 2021, we’d like to share a short video tour from Charles Vinick, our Executive Director, of the ...

Posted November 30, 2021 in News

Dolphin Assisted Therapy, Autism and Pseudoscience

Dr. Lori Marino of the Whale Sanctuary Project discusses how Dolphin Assisted Therapy is a nonscientific practice claiming to be ...

Posted November 22, 2021 in News, Opinion

The Landmark Study that Led Me to Reject Research on Captive Whales and Dolphins

It was a landmark study in our understanding of the cognitive abilities of dolphins. But what I learned most from ...

Posted November 8, 2021 in News

Opening Day at Whale Sanctuary Operations Centre

It's another milestone toward the creation of the Whale Sanctuary in Nova Scotia. People from near and far gathered for ...

Posted October 31, 2021 in News

From Keiko to Kiska – Whales Without Walls

I’m sitting on the wharf, here at Port Hilford Bay, and behind me are 100 acres of water space that ...

Posted October 25, 2021 in News

Shocking Government Report on Miami Seaquarium

New and deeply disturbing facts in a government report about life for the orca Lolita and other marine mammals at ...

Posted October 6, 2021 in News

Sanctuaries and the Study of Cetacean Communication

How an authentic coastal sanctuary will be able to supplement the work that’s being done in the open ocean by ...

Posted October 4, 2021 in News

Of Mice and Orcas

A recent video of Kiska the orca at Marineland Canada shows her slapping the side of her body against the ...

Posted September 27, 2021 in News, Opinion

Crisis at Marineland Canada

Last week, Kiska the orca at Marineland Canada became news all over the world when video was posted of her ...

Posted September 15, 2021 in News

Why Captive Cetaceans Have Been Dying

The recent spate of deaths of young whales have apparently been a surprise to their owners at entertainment parks. But ...

Posted August 26, 2021 in News, Opinion

Ula Was Never Part of Their “Family”

On Monday of this week, Loro Parque Zoo in the Canary Islands announced that the young orca Ula had died. ...

Posted August 11, 2021 in News

The Rescue of Toa

Toa, as the six-month-old orca would later be named, was living the life of any young whale’s dreams, leaping in ...

Posted July 24, 2021 in News

Orca Skyla Dies at Loro Parque Zoo

Following the death of the orca Skyla, Loro Parque Zoo offered a very brief statement on the necropsy. Here are ...

Posted March 22, 2021 in News

A Major Update on the Creation of the Whale Sanctuary

It is just over a year since Dr. Lori Marino and I announced that Port Hilford Bay in Nova Scotia ...

Posted March 18, 2021 in News

“What I Wish I Could Ask a Whale”

Senator Daniel Christmas of Nova Scotia, Canada, joins Dr. Lori Marino, President of the Whale Sanctuary Project, for this conversation ...

Posted March 4, 2021 in News

What Is an Authentic Sanctuary?

A sanctuary is, by definition, a place where the wellbeing of the residents is always the priority.  A couple of ...

Posted February 10, 2021 in News, Opinion

Keiko the Orca’s Legacy

Several of us on the Whale Sanctuary team today worked together 20 years ago to return to the ocean the ...

Posted December 17, 2020 in News

Message from the Sanctuary Site

A brief video message from Charles Vinick, Whale Sanctuary Project executive director, taped at the wharf that overlooks the sanctuary ...

Posted December 8, 2020 in News

A Deep Dive into Environmental Analysis

At the sanctuary site: ADCPs? Multibeam Sonar? Benthic Surveys? Water and Sediment Sampling? Hydrophones and Underwater Microphones? What's it all ...

Posted October 23, 2020 in News

Another Infant Beluga Dies at Shedd Aquarium

Another beluga infant has perished at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Beluga whales are highly intelligent, wide-ranging, socially complex, cultural ...

Posted September 20, 2020 in News

A New Calf for the Southern Resident Orcas

Tahlequah (J-35), a member of the endangered Southern Resident orca population, has given birth to a healthy-looking calf, Two years ...

Posted September 7, 2020 in News

Whale Camp!

On August 15th, we held a Whale Sanctuary Family Day Camp in Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia, just 15 minutes from the ...

Posted August 22, 2020 in News

Another First for Captive Whales and Dolphins

Little Grey and Little White, two beluga whales who had spent eight years on display at an entertainment park in ...

Posted August 10, 2020 in News

Are Beluga Whales Social Butterflies?

A new study shows beluga whales have an even more complex social life than we imagined, one that’s more similar ...

Posted August 6, 2020 in News

Reintroducing Keiko to the Wild – the “Free Willy” Whale

Two members of Keiko’s team talk about what it was like bringing him to Iceland on a giant cargo plane ...

Posted August 2, 2020 in News