The Whale Sanctuary Blog Archives
2024

News updates … Opinion … Commentary … Press releases … Background info … Archives.

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

“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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Beluga Whales – Cute, Curvy and Exploited

The Georgia Aquarium had arranged to have the whales captured from the Sea of Okhotsk on Russia’s west coast, and ...

Park Board to Vancouver Aquarium: ‘No New Whale Displays’

The Vancouver Park Board has voted in favor of amending a bylaw that would effectively prevent any new whales, dolphins ...

Belugas Are Whales, Too

Beluga whales are also central to the work of the project, and the waters of Nova Scotia are among their ...

Explore the archives for more.

Archives by year: