Story thread · 6 reports / 5 sources

Shedd Aquarium to receive four more beluga whales from Marineland

suntimes.com · 4h · first reportShare

Shedd Aquarium’s beluga whale population is about to double — from what it was a month ago. Four more of the white cetaceans are expected to leave the shuttered Marineland Canada this week, arriving in Chicago early Thursday if all goes to plan. That’s a big “if,” given the storms that continue to sweep through the region. On Wednesday morning, Shedd staff were in Niagara Falls, Canada, preparing the steel boxes used to transport the belugas — first by truck, then inside a Boeing 777 cargo plane flying from Toronto to Chicago, with one stop along the way: The same flight will also carry two more Marineland belugas headed to Georgia Aquarium. “We are making sure we have everything that we need… from duct tape to making sure we have the appropriate foam and all the appropriate [beluga] stretcher sizes. This operation is so complex and every animal is different, and we tailor all of the transport equipment per animal,” said Charlie Jacobsma, Shedd’s director of animal behavior and trainin