“Its a whale of a plan”
Over 300 beluga whales are in captivity worldwide, with some going to a new home in Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia before the end of 2021. Whale expert Charles Vinnick announced Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia will be the official home base to the first whale sanctuary in North America.
Vinnick is excited about this news, and feels this is big for the Sherbrooke region. Sherbrooke is a small rural area in Nova Scotia and he sees this improving tourism and helping the economy there.
The 100-acre sanctuary will be protected by nets that will allow free whales to roam throughout that area, and they will be able to swim in a straight line for many body lengths for the first time in their lives.
“We have a lot of space. We have scope. We have the right environment for them. We’re well secured to the South West.” Storms will hit the area, and while the whales will have limited experience with them because of their past captivity environments, Vinnick says they’re naturally conditioned to withstand the weather.
It is expected that the sanctuary will house between five and eight whales of the 300 now in captivity.
