Beluga whales are held in marine parks worldwide for entertainment, raising serious welfare concerns, while wild populations face threats from climate change, shipping noise, and pollution in Arctic seas.
Beluga captivity welfare is well-documented as significantly impaired. Belugas are among the most cognitively sophisticated cetaceans, with complex social bonds and communication repertoires. In pools, they cannot perform natural diving, foraging, or long-distance movement. Social groupings in captivity are artificial and often unstable. Chlorinated pool water causes skin problems. Wild belugas in degraded environments like the St. Lawrence face chronic exposure to PCBs and other pollutants that accumulate in their tissue and cause reproductive impairment and disease. Climate change is reducing Arctic sea ice that belugas use for feeding and pupping. Both captive and wild beluga welfare demand urgent attention.