Globe and Mail
Beluga's death probed for possible causes
Tuvaq's demise prompts captivity critics to call for returning whales to the wild
By WILLIAM MBAHO
Tuesday, July 19, 2005 Page S3
VANCOUVER -- Vancouver Aquarium officials have ruled out a heart attack or an aneurysm as they try to figure out why a healthy baby beluga died suddenly while on display at their Stanley Park site on Sunday.
Autopsy tests conducted on three-year-old Tuvaq at a British Columbia animal-care centre in Abbotsford did not reveal any illness, an aquarium official said yesterday.
"That means that we are going to look into neurological tests for things like arrhythmia, and that's harder to find and requires analysis over a two-week horizon," said John Nightingale, Vancouver Aquarium's president.
He said recent blood work on Tuvaq also had failed to reveal any sickness.
"When our staff first noticed that he was floating on his side, it was clear within a minute or two that he had died," Dr. Nightingale.
He said aquarium staff immediately moved Tuvaq from the back of their display pool to a medical pool to confirm the whale was dead.
Crowds and staff members gathered at the aquarium display pool in Stanley Park on Sunday morning were shocked to see the dead baby beluga whale lifted by a crane from the pool, Dr. Nightingale said.
"There was a deep sense of loss felt by everyone," Dr. Nightingale said.
"Tuvaq was the scamp or the imp. He had even taught himself how to squirt water, he was definitely a whale with a lot of personality."
He said Tuvaq was a large marine mammal, weighing in at 625 kilograms and measuring 2.79 metres.
"The bigger the marine mammal, the more restrictive a captive space would be," Dr. Nightingale said, adding: "But with belugas, you're dealing with what marine mammal experts would call a low-performance whale. They have small tails and small flippers. It's a miracle if it can leap out of the water as far as its navel."
He said the beluga's home at the aquarium was shared with five older belugas -- including Tuvaq's parents -- and remained suitable for the captive marine mammals.
"We believe that whales are critical to our mission of interpretation and education," Dr. Nightingale said.
"And we are going to continue breeding them."
Julie Woodyer, campaign director for Toronto-based Zoocheck Canada Inc., a national animal-protection charity, said that the organization is opposed to the aquarium's breeding and animal-import policy.
"Given that the animal's basic needs are not being met, they die the way prison-camp inhabitants die and lose their will to live," Ms. Woodyer said yesterday.
"They also develop some physiological problems as a result of lack of exercise and a proper diet, keeping in mind that they would be hunting in the wild and spending their days socializing."
She said the Vancouver Aquarium is perpetuating entertainment and not education and should attempt to relocate its marine mammals with an aim to returning them to the wild.
"It's not possible to re-create a whale's natural habitat -- it's too complex," Ms. Woodyer said. "The domestication of animals takes thousands of generations, and animals in captivity are learning demented behaviours."
Annelise Sorg, director of the Vancouver-based Coalition for No Whales in Captivity, said Tuvaq is the fifth whale to die at the Vancouver Aquarium since 1977, adding that his death is not an isolated occurrence.
"There have been many deaths of baby whales, not just at the Vancouver Aquarium," Ms. Sorg said yesterday.
"Every week there is a death of a baby whale somewhere. Usually they die of infection, and it's not surprising as they live in their own cesspool."
She said the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, from which the aquarium has a lease in Stanley Park until 2015, should restrict the importation of animals into the park.
"The Vancouver parks board can't just put a moratorium on breeding at the aquarium; that's like handing out condoms to whales," Ms. Sorg said.
Officials at the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation said yesterday that any moral pressure or legal restrictions from them on this issue would only take place after extensive discussions with Vancouver Aquarium officials.
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