TORONTO — U.S. authorities have approved an “emergency rescue” operation to import Canada’s last captive whales and dolphins, a consortium of marine parks said Wednesday.

The shuttered Niagara Falls, Ont., tourist attraction is up for sale and the park has said it is running out of money to care for its complement of 30 belugas and four dolphins.

Ottawa endorsed last month a plan to move the animals to several facilities in the United States and one in Spain.

The whales are set to go to five marine parks: Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, SeaWorld locations in San Antonio and San Diego and Oceanografic Valencia in Spain.

The U.S. parks are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums who rallied to help Marineland after Ottawa nixed last fall a request for permits to export the whales to an aquarium in China.

The American consortium said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration authorized the emergency rescue this week and that they are still awaiting permits from the Spanish government.

It is set to be an unprecedented move with the number of whales involved. Marineland has the highest number of captive belugas in the world.

The U.S. aquariums said it will be a “remarkably complex rescue operation.”

“This collective of aquariums is well positioned for this extraordinary task, thanks to decades of beluga care experience and having collaborated on several successful beluga rescues in the past,” said Johnny Ford, a spokesperson for the Shedd Aquarium and the rest of te consortium.

Marineland said it welcomed the U.S. authorization of the relocation.

“We recognize we can no longer provide the long-term care these animals require, and we believe this rescue — led by AZA-accredited aquariums including Shedd Aquarium, Georgia Aquarium, SeaWorld San Antonio, and SeaWorld San Diego — is in the whales’ best interest,” Marineland said.

“Care teams will arrive in the coming weeks to assess the whales and prepare them for travel, and no whale will move until cleared by Canadian veterinarians.”

Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans issued the first batch of permits to export the whales and dolphins in early June and will have to sign off on final permits once they check the health of the animals.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 8, 2026.

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press