Paint, Rocks and Other Debris Found in Belugas’ Stomachs

Preliminary medical findings from two belugas rescued from Marineland reveal severe, long-standing gastrointestinal disease and foreign material in their stomachs, providing a clearer picture of the serious health challenges some of the whales faced before their rescue.

CHICAGO. When 30 beluga whales needed to be moved from the shuttered Marineland park in Ontario earlier this year, accredited aquariums across North America and Europe mobilized to help. Marineland said it was no longer financially capable of caring for the animals, and the whales faced the possibility of euthanasia if new homes could not be found. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago agreed to take 10 as part of an emergency international rescue involving several leading marine mammal care institutions.

Now, preliminary medical findings from two of the whales that died after arriving at Shedd are providing the first detailed look at just how serious some of their underlying health problems were. Veterinarians found significant chronic gastrointestinal disease in 23-year-old Peekachu and severe chronic gastrointestinal disease in 20-year-old Rain. Based on examinations of their tissues and organs, veterinarians believe the disease had likely been developing for months or possibly years, long before either whale arrived in Chicago.

The examinations also revealed foreign material in both animals. Peekachu had bird feathers, sticks and large porous rocks in her stomach. Rain had small flecks of material that pathologists said may have been paint. Shedd said Peekachu could not have ingested the objects while in Chicago, meaning the material was already in her stomach when she was rescued from Marineland.

Shedd has cautioned that the foreign material is not believed to have directly caused either whale’s death, and veterinarians have not yet identified a single definitive cause of death. But the combination of chronic disease and unusual foreign material is adding important information about the condition of the whales before the rescue and the medical challenges facing the institutions that took them in.

Pathologists found changes to the intestinal lining and affected tissues, along with immune cells associated with chronic inflammation. According to Shedd, the extent and nature of those changes indicate that the disease began before the whales arrived in Chicago and had already compromised their health.

The findings provide new context for an emergency rescue that was extraordinary in both its size and its urgency.

A Population of Whales in Need of Rescue

Marineland, a sprawling marine park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, closed to the public in 2024. By this year, 30 belugas remained there without a permanent solution for their care. Twenty whales, including 19 belugas and one killer whale, had died at Marineland since 2019, according to provincial government data and official statements reported by NBC Chicago.

The Ontario government had also previously issued orders concerning marine-mammal life-support systems and required water-quality standards at the park. The available medical evidence does not establish that those conditions caused the gastrointestinal disease discovered in Peekachu and Rain, but the history adds to the questions surrounding the health of the animals that remained at Marineland.

By this summer, the situation had become an emergency. Marineland was no longer willing or financially able to support the whales’ care and warned that the animals could be euthanized if another solution could not be found.

Accredited aquariums stepped forward.

Canadian authorities approved an international rescue plan that allowed the animals to leave the country. Shedd Aquarium, Georgia Aquarium, SeaWorld San Diego, SeaWorld San Antonio and Oceanogràfic in Valencia, Spain, were among the institutions that accepted whales.

The operation required extraordinary coordination. Moving a beluga requires specialized equipment, veterinary supervision and teams trained to transport animals that can weigh thousands of pounds. Doing it repeatedly for a large population of whales, some of which were already facing serious medical challenges, required institutions across several countries to mobilize quickly.

Shedd’s rescued whales began arriving in Chicago in July, where veterinary and animal-care teams began evaluating them and helping them adjust to the aquarium’s three-million-gallon Abbott Oceanarium.

Three of those rescued whales, Peekachu, Rain and Osiris, have since died. A fourth whale, Beethoven, also died at Shedd during the same period, but the 34-year-old was a longtime Shedd resident and was not part of the Marineland rescue. Preliminary examinations of Beethoven found a different medical picture, including age-related cardiovascular changes.

The examination of Osiris remains underway.

What Veterinarians Are Learning

The findings involving Peekachu and Rain are particularly important because chronic gastrointestinal disease can be difficult to detect from an animal’s outward behavior alone. According to Shedd, a beluga may continue eating and interacting normally even while significant inflammation develops internally. An animal’s condition can deteriorate rapidly once its body is no longer able to compensate.

Peekachu initially appeared to be adjusting to her new home. She explored her surroundings, interacted with her caretakers and ate squid, herring and capelin. Although blind in one eye, she was able to navigate the habitat and socialize with other whales. Her appetite later became inconsistent, and she died on Aug. 26, less than two weeks after arriving at Shedd.

The examination after her death revealed significant chronic gastrointestinal inflammation. It also revealed the feathers, sticks and large porous rocks inside her stomach.

Rain, who arrived from Marineland with Peekachu, died on Sept. 2. Microscopic examination of her tissues revealed gastrointestinal inflammation that Shedd characterized as severe. Veterinarians also discovered the small flecks of material believed to possibly be paint.

The discoveries leave veterinarians with important questions about the whales’ lives before their rescue. It is not yet known why Peekachu swallowed the rocks, sticks and feathers, how the possible paint entered Rain’s stomach or what caused the chronic gastrointestinal disease affecting both animals. Shedd has not attributed the illnesses to a particular condition at Marineland, and the debris itself is not believed to have directly caused their deaths.

What the examinations do establish is that both whales arrived in Chicago with serious medical conditions that had been developing for a considerable period of time.

That information may also help veterinarians caring for the surviving animals. If similar gastrointestinal problems exist in other rescued whales, the pathology findings from Peekachu and Rain could help animal-care teams know what to watch for and allow them to intervene as early as possible.

Shedd has found no evidence so far of a communicable disease connecting the deaths. Testing for fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens continues, and veterinarians are examining each animal individually while monitoring the surviving whales closely.

The Rescue Continues

The new findings underscore the scale of the challenge that Shedd and the other participating aquariums accepted when they agreed to take the Marineland whales. Getting the animals out of the closed facility was the urgent first step. Understanding and treating the health problems they carried with them is proving to be another part of the rescue.

Two surviving whales at Shedd, Secord and Caspian, remain of greatest clinical concern. Veterinary teams are closely monitoring their food intake, hydration, behavior and gastrointestinal indicators while providing treatment when appropriate.

The findings from Peekachu and Rain may become especially valuable as that work continues. Chronic disease that developed over months or years cannot necessarily be identified during the limited examinations possible before an emergency relocation. Pathology is now giving veterinarians a much deeper look at what was happening inside the animals before they arrived.

There is still no medical evidence establishing precisely what caused the chronic gastrointestinal disease or whether conditions at Marineland played a role. Those questions require additional evidence, and the examinations remain ongoing. But rocks, sticks, feathers and possible paint inside the stomachs of chronically ill whales are unusual findings that deserve further investigation, particularly given the larger history of animal deaths and government intervention at Marineland.

The picture emerging from the medical examinations is of animals that needed help. Their longtime home had closed. Their continued care was uncertain. Euthanasia had become a possibility. And at least some of the whales were carrying serious chronic illnesses that rescuers could not fully see when they arrived.

The accredited aquariums that stepped forward gave those animals another chance. For the surviving belugas, the work of that rescue is far from over.

This version also fits the AO rule that SeaWorld and other accredited institutions should be woven into the reporting as part of the story rather than treated like a separate promotional section.