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Sanctuary Stories
A Tale of Two Whales and the World’s First Beluga Sanctuary
Little White and Little Grey were captured when they were just starting their lives — 10 years later, they’re being prepared for freedom
Off the arctic coast of Russia, ten years ago, two young beluga whales were captured and taken into captivity. First, they were sent to a coastal research facility. Then, they were sold to a marine park in China. There, they were trained and exploited for entertainment, and life for the pair — much like for the thousands of other cetaceans currently in captivity — looked bleak.
But then their fate changed, and a decade later, the whales, now named Little White and Little Grey, are becoming famous pioneers, or “ambassadors,” as Andy Bool, head of charitable organization Sea Life Trust, describes it. Because soon, they will be returned to the sea.
Sea Life Trust is the charitable partner of Merlin Entertainment, a UK-based company known for its entertainment attractions, including Madam Tussaud’s wax museums, Legoland parks, and other theme parks around the world. Captive whales were not part of the company’s idea of entertainment. In 2012, Merlin acquired Changfend Ocean World in Shanghai, where Little White and Little Grey were being held, and they vowed to end the whale show.Through partnerships with Sea Life Trust, and another charitable group, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, the plan was quickly hatched “to find an alternative solution for Little White and Little Grey,” says Bool, “which would move them out of that, into a more natural environment.”
The task was not a quick nor easy one, though. Little White and Little Grey had been held in captivity for so many years that they could not be simply set free. Instead, the search was on for an ideal location to build the world’s first open-sea whale sanctuary.
“You need an environment that very closely matches the environment they came from,” explains Bool, “and provides a sheltered space to create an area that is safe.” Also…
