Fourth Marineland whale dies after relocation, third at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago

A fourth whale that was moved out of Marineland in July has died after struggling with its health after arriving at her new home in Chicago, Shedd Aquarium said Monday. The park said 26-year-old Osiris died Monday morning. The female beluga was one of 10 that came to Shedd from Marineland, the shuttered tourist attraction in Niagara Falls, Ont.

It was part of the world’s biggest collective move of captive whales. Marineland had said it was running out of money and could no longer care for its animals. Over a series of moves beginning in July, Marineland moved 30 belugas and four dolphins to five aquariums abroad: Shedd in Chicago, SeaWorld locations in San Antonio and San Diego, Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and Oceanografic Valencia in Spain.

Osiris was “not a consistent eater” but had improved recently after receiving fluids and medication, Shedd said. “Our care team observed sudden changes this morning in both Osiris’s behaviour and respiratory patterns,” Shedd said in a statement. “Respiratory rates are one of many measures we track closely and continuously, as changes can signal that an animal may need additional support.

The team moved Osiris to the medical habitat, so immediate care could be provided if needed. Her condition declined rapidly, and Osiris passed away despite lifesaving efforts by our veterinary and animal care teams.” The park will conduct a necropsy to try to better understand what happened. Two other Marineland whales, Rain and Peekachu, died at Shedd within weeks of the move.

One longtime Shedd resident beluga, Beethoven, also recently died. All are being investigated, but the results have not yet returned, Shedd said. Another Marineland beluga, Jelly Bean, died at Oceanografic last week.

The whales were cleared by veterinarians at Marineland and the other parks to move and Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson also signed off on the relocation. Last week, Shedd said it is concerned about the health of another recently moved whale, Secord. “Secord has not yet been consistently taking in the amount of food teams would like to see, even as they try different feeding approaches and offer different types of herring to gauge her preference,” Shedd said in a blog post last week.