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

TORONTO — 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.

Marineland originally sought to move the whales to China after securing a deal to sell all 30 of its belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, which has a Guinness Book of World Record for the largest aquarium in the world.

Thompson blocked that move, saying it was not in the best interest of the whales and inconsistent with a 2019 federal law. That law banned whale and dolphin captivity, but grandfathered in Marineland’s whales. It also banned breeding, which forced Marineland to separate its whales by sex. And the law banned performances.

Marineland turned to an American-led consortium to house the world’s biggest pod of captive belugas, but they needed five aquariums to house them all.

There are no breeding or performing restrictions at belugas’ new homes.

Marineland’s whales had struggled in recent years. Nineteen belugas and one killer whale died at the park between 2019 and 2025.

The park blames some of those deaths on the new federal laws.

Sources have said Marineland, which is about a kilometre from Horseshoe Falls, has been sold on the condition that all animals are gone.

Several hundred deer remain.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2026.

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press