Beluga whales rescued from water park so they can be released into the wild
It is no wonder this beluga whale has such a large smile on his face – he’s finally been taken back to the ocean after being kept in captivity where he was forced to perform tricks.
He and another whale have spent nine years at a cramped Chengfeng Ocean World in China. But the pair, named Little Grey and Little White, have now been flown 6,000 miles to Iceland where they will be able to live out their days in the world’s first open-water sanctuary for belugas.
British wildlife charity Sea Life Trust co-ordinated their rescue to a vast area, nearly 10 times the size of New York’s Central Park.
They say that Klettsvik Bay is secluded, deep and offers protection from harsh conditions of the Atlantic ocean.
Experts were with Little Grey and Little White throughout their trip from China and they are feeding well after being transferred to the pool from a landside facility.
Sea Life Trust head Andy Bool said it was an ‘amazing feeling’ to see the belugas arrive safely at their new Icelandic home.
He said: ‘Seeing them breaching together, the sunlight glinting off their backs. They won’t have felt direct sunlight like that since they were very young animals, when they were first taken from the wild.
‘All the sunlight they have felt has been through windows in indoor pools. So to see that was an amazing feeling.’
The belugas moved to the Chinese aquarium upon their release from a Russian research programme.
Their new sanctuary has pontoons scattered throughout should whale experts ever be needed to treat them.
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