The Whale Sanctuary Blog Archives
2025

Time to End Keeping Whales and Dolphins in Captivity

Text of an opinion essay in The Globe and Mail, Canada’s leading newspaper, by Dr. Lori Marino, about recent findings ...

Posted November 20, 2025 in News

Righting an Original Wrong

(Eighth in a series.) In 1861, the showman PT Barnum began capturing beluga whales for use as entertainment. The creation ...

Posted October 28, 2025 in News

Care of the Whales Before and After Coming to the Sanctuary

(Sixth in a series.) Bringing the whales to the sanctuary falls into three main phases.

Posted October 28, 2025 in News

Sanctuary Timetable

(Fifth in a series.) Capital costs for constructing the sanctuary and for rehabilitating and transporting the first whale residents, and ...

Posted October 28, 2025 in News

What “Permits” Are Needed?

(Fourth in a series.)We are often asked questions like “Do you have all the permits you need?” A brief outline ...

Posted October 28, 2025 in News

The Whales Who Are Candidates for the Sanctuary

(Second in a series.) Whales who have been dominating the news over the last year include Wikie and Keijo in ...

Posted October 28, 2025 in News

Nova Scotia Sanctuary – Status Report Fall 2025

(First in a series.) Nova Scotia government's Order in Council means we now have a clear path to begin construction ...

Posted October 28, 2025 in News

Updates on the Beluga Whales at Marineland Canada

Updates from major media on the crisis at Marineland Canada while we work with ally organizations in Canada to create ...

Posted October 10, 2025 in News

Marineland Canada Seeks to Remove Whales “Expeditiously”

For the 31 beluga whales, along with all the other animals, it’s time for an all-in collaborative effort.

Posted March 18, 2025 in News

The Two Marinelands

Updates on Wikie & Keijo, the orcas at Marineland Antibes, and the 31 beluga whales at Marineland Canada

Posted March 14, 2025 in News

South Korean Aquarium Signals Intent to Send Beluga Whale to Sanctuary

A Letter of Intent with LotteWorld Aquarium “to enter a dialogue concerning the relocation of the beluga whale known as ...

Posted November 22, 2024 in News

Hvaldimir – Beloved Whale Is Found Dead

Hvaldimir, the beloved beluga whale who escaped from captivity in Russia and made a new life for himself, was found ...

Posted September 10, 2024 in News

Hope for a Family in Distress

This is the first in a series of posts about progress in our work at the sanctuary site in the ...

Posted June 4, 2024 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

World Aquatic Animal Day – Special Event

At this special event from the Lewis & Clark Center for Animal Law, Dr. Lori Marino will talk about The ...

Posted March 29, 2021 in

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

How I Fell in Love with the Cetacean Brain!

What we’ve discovered about cetacean brains in recent decades has rewritten our understanding of how complex intelligence evolves. Every year, ...

Posted August 21, 2020 in

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

“Please Don’t Interact with Curious Beluga Whales in the Ocean!”

A few of the beluga whales who had been captured illegally from Russian waters and were returned to the ocean ...

Posted July 29, 2020 in News

Big and Beautiful: the Beluga Brain

In terms of brain size and complexity, beluga whales are among the most sophisticated cetaceans. These big beautiful brains underlie ...

Posted May 26, 2020 in News

Canaries of the Sea

We’ve barely begun to learn who these amazing, charming and complex beings are. Among their unique abilities is their highly ...

Posted May 21, 2020 in News

Photographing Belugas in the Wild

Wildlife photographer Ellen Cuylaerts travels the world documenting animals and the challenges they face. We talked with her about her ...

Posted February 8, 2020 in News

The Whale Jail Is No More!

The last group of beluga whales from the “whale jail” in Russia have been returned to the ocean. The notorious ...

Posted November 16, 2019 in News

Site Search in Nova Scotia

Third in a series of posts about our search for the best location for a seaside sanctuary for captive whales. ...

Posted October 26, 2019 in News

Recommendations for Release of Orcas and Belugas from Srednyaya Bay

The Russian government is currently assessing recommendations for rehab and release of the 97 orcas and beluga whales who were ...

Posted May 14, 2019 in For the Media, News

News Conference & Public Meetings in Nova Scotia

“We believe there is the perfect community that shares our vision," Charles Vinick told reporters at Whale Sanctuary Project news ...

Posted January 29, 2019 in News

News Release in Nova Scotia

The Whale Sanctuary Project is holding a series of public information meetings over the next 10 days to identify communities ...

Posted January 29, 2019 in For the Media, News

When Captive Belugas Give Birth

At the Shedd Aquarium, the beluga Mauyak is pregnant. We all hope her calf is born healthy and lives beyond ...

Posted September 23, 2018 in News, Opinion

Sea Life Trust Is Building the World’s First Beluga Sanctuary

By this time next year, the Sea Life Trust expects to have opened the world’s first seaside sanctuary for formerly ...

Posted August 30, 2018 in News

Among Beluga Whales, Family and Culture Come First

New discoveries from a 32-year study of beluga whales show the extent to which these animals value culture and family ...

Posted April 27, 2018 in Learn More, News

If Only There Were a Seaside Sanctuary for Him

This baby beluga was spotted from the air lying almost dead on a deserted beach in Alaska. And everyone who ...

Posted February 20, 2018 in News

Merlin Entertainment Seeks to Move Belugas to Sanctuary

Merlin, a British company that specializes in amusement parks, is looking to create a whale sanctuary off the coast of ...

Posted June 15, 2017 in News

When Belugas Learn to Say “Vrooom”

Wilma was an orphan beluga whale who had been in the bay trying to make friends with fishermen and tourist ...

Posted June 9, 2017 in Learn More

Smart, Chatty and Chirpy – and That’s Their Problem

Beluga whales are cute, charming, chatty, curious and all-around delightful. And that’s their problem, in that these attributes make them ...

Posted June 8, 2017 in Learn More

How the Beluga Business Began

What Sarah had seen that day in 1861 was one of the first beluga whales to be captured and put ...

Posted June 6, 2017 in Learn More