ATLANTA — You can now meet two new friends at the Georgia Aquarium: rescued beluga whales Balor and Zephyr.
Balor, 10, and Zephyr, 7, were among 30 whales rescued from Marineland park and zoo in Niagara Falls, Ontario. On Thursday, the two young males were moved to Atlanta.
Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer got the first look at how they are doing on Friday morning.
Balor and Zephyr are now swimming for the first time in the cold water of the main beluga habitat.
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Channel 2 Action News went behind the scenes to see where care teams look after the whales.
“Because they were so calm yesterday we were able to mix them with the population here,” Georgia Aquarium Senior Animal Wellbeing Curator Jason Jones said.
“And that’s a great sign,” Stouffer said.
“It’s huge, huge, and you can see they’re kind of swimming. They look really calm, and that’s exactly what we’re wanting to see,” Jones replied.
Earlier this week, animal specialists lifted the 1,100 pound whales in padded slings and into custom boxes with water at the closed Canadian marine park.
“They are nice and calm in their stretcher and they are attending them, watching their behavior, watching their vitals, then keeping them cool,” Jones explained.
Throughout the whole flight to Atlanta, crews were constantly evaluating Balor and Zephyr’s vitals.
“They are nice and calm in their stretcher and they are attending them, watching their behavior, watching their vitals, keeping them cool,” Jones said. “I’m really focused on the health and well-being of these individual animals.”
Balor and Zephyr were both born in human care, not in the wild.
They were chosen for the Georgia Aquarium because of their ages and temperament. Other rescued whales are headed across the U.S. and Europe.
“This is an unprecedented rescue event moving 30 whales that needed to find a new home,” Jones said.
The Georgia Aquarium is a non-profit, so everyone who visits supports the academic research, conservation and rescue around the world.
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