Submitted by Levon Drover, via CBC.CA
By: Sarah Sharkey
Earlier this summer, beluga whales were spotted near Ingonish, Nova Scotia. It was an extremely rare
sighting. In fact, these whales have not been spotted in the area since August of 2015. Although the
whales have not been seen for years, they seemed perfectly at ease in these waters.
The sighting happened on a Zodiac Adventures boat. Dave Sigworth and Mary Barton were on board to
witness the amazing spotting.
Sigworth described his experience, “ We were expecting to see maybe pilot whales or dolphins, but we
never expected to see beluga whales. The word from the captain on the earlier tour was that they had
seen beluga whales, so it certainly put a little buzz in the air among the people.”
The captain of their boat took some time trying to find these elusive whales, but eventually he found
them. Sigworth said, “They weren’t concerned about us at all, they came right up to the Zodiac and we
think they were rubbing on the boat a little bit. I’m not sure if anyone on the boat managed to touch
them, but they were swimming around and under the boat.”
It was definitely a uncommon sighting of the smallest species of whale. Although there are breeding
populations nearby, they rarely occur in this area. It may be a sign that the breeding whales are doing
well.
Read more from the source.