After nearly a decade in captivity, two big belugas are making their triumphant return to the sea. Bless them
Look how happy! Photo: Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images Oh, to be a whale en route to the open ocean, strapped into your specially made sky stretcher and hoisted into belly-flop position, your smooth cetacean skin rippling in blubbery anticipation of the big plop, the return to the icy waters of your calfhood and the 24-hour fish buffet that lies below. What an incomparable feeling, the thrill that comes before your splash-landing into a whole sea of freedom.
And if you cannot — understandable at this point in time — perhaps resign yourself to living vicariously through two big belugas, the second-most-winning type of whale, according to our comprehensive power ranking, and possibly also the freakiest. The two heroes at the center of our story are on their way back to their natural habitat after months of logistical chaos and a long, involuntary stint in captivity.
According to CNN, Little Grey and Little White “are enjoying their first taste of the sea since 2011,” when they were captured as youths off the coast of Russia. These belugas were not conscripted into Russia’s leviathan spy army, which seems like a reasonably fulfilling career, but instead were transferred to Changfeng Ocean World aquarium in Shanghai. One year later, their new home came under the ownership of Merlin Entertainments, a company that opposed keeping the large lads in captivity.
“We had to make the belugas as comfortable as possible” so they would have “a positive association with travel,” Audrey Padgett, general manager of the Beluga Whale Sanctuary in Iceland, told CNN. “It’s been quite the journey for these two. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s definitely been a labor of love.”
Although the coronavirus pandemic complicated the whales’ transition from a quarantined care facility into the sanctuary, they now have a spacious acclimatization zone at their disposal with all manner of new and exotic ocean snacks to enjoy. This is a joyous moment for the whales, and if they are happy — which, just look at them — then I am happy.
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