Peekachu died shortly after relocation. Photo: Shedd Aquarium
Escaping Canada’s embattled Marineland was not enough to save one whale this week. Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium announced Wednesday that the 23-year-old female beluga whale Peekachu has died.
Marineland, a theme park located on the Canadian side of Niagara falls, has spent years trying to figure out how to offload the captive marine mammal population stuck in the park since it shut down in 2024. At one point, after an attempted sale to a Chinese theme park was blocked by the Canadian government, the park even threatened to euthanize all of the animals.
There seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel, though, when Marineland and the Canadian government reached an agreement to relocate the whales to a collection of U.S. aquariums in Georgia, Chicago, San Diego and San Antonio, and the Oceanogràfic València aquarium in Spain. Peekachu was part of the third batch of cetaceans to be moved to a new home.
“Peekachu was unique,” said Shedd in a blog post. “She was blind in one eye and one of the smaller whales. Despite what could have been a limitation, Peekachu had little trouble socializing and finding her way around a new habitat. In the days that followed the rescue, Peekachu showed early signs of progress as she ate squid, herring and capelin from caretakers and checked out the care team from the underwater windows as they monitored the progress of the rescues.”
However, things took a turn Tuesday. After aquarium staff was able to take blood samples from the whale, they found she was dehydrated and needed supportive care. Then, as teams worked to provide the animal with medicine and fluids, Peekachu suddenly died. The exact cause of Peekachu’s death is unknown, but the aquarium says that an upcoming necropsy may be able to shed some light on Peekachu’s overall health before she passed and what led to her death.
“Losing any animal is immensely difficult,” continued the blog post. “From the outset of this rescue, we understood each animal would be navigating a significant transition and that their complete health picture, including conditions that may have developed over time, could only become clearer through ongoing assessment and care.”
There are still six belugas remaining in Marineland, that are scheduled to be relocated to the United States. According to the CBC, they are the last captive whales in Canada.
