SAN ANTONIO, TX – Two beluga whales named Frank and Bertie Botts flew more than 1,500 miles from Canada to their new home in Texas — and they are just the beginning.
The inseparable pair are among the first of 30 belugas being relocated to aquariums across the United States through an international emergency rescue effort, after their previous home closed and their future grew dangerously uncertain.
From the brink of euthanasia
The whales spent years at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Canada, which closed in 2024 amid allegations of animal mistreatment. As the facility ran low on money to care for the animals, fears grew that the whales could be euthanized.
U.S. and Canadian officials worked together to secure new homes for the mammals, including placements at SeaWorld San Antonio, and aquariums in Atlanta and Chicago.
A complex, high-stakes move
Getting a 1,000-plus-pound beluga whale onto an airplane is no small feat.
SeaWorld’s Steve Aibel accompanied Frank and Bertie Botts on their journey and described the step-by-step process of moving the massive animals.
“We’ll put them into a cradle, we’ll lift them up with a crane because they’re big and they’re heavy,” Aibel said. “You’ll put them into their box, which then goes rolling into a truck. The truck takes you to the airport. You then roll up onto the plane and you secure them in the aircraft and you are airborne.”
Aibel said the mission felt bigger than logistics.
“It’s a magical, soaring experience,” he said. “You know the team that they’re coming in to work with, you know the situation of a park that is no longer going to be able to take care of them, and you know you’re part of the solution.”
Settling into a new life in San Antonio
Frank and Bertie Botts are now settling into a two-million-gallon saltwater pool at SeaWorld San Antonio, joining eight other beluga whales already living there.
Over the next few weeks, 11 more belugas are expected to arrive in San Antonio. The remaining whales will go to aquariums in Atlanta and Chicago.
Aibel says the whales’ lives will look drastically different in their new surroundings.
“They’re going to just have a much more dynamic and exciting environment here,” he said. “Not because Marineland was doing anything wrong or bad, but just strictly because Marineland had stopped functioning as a working theme park and we are not.”