Beluga whales are highly social Arctic cetaceans whose welfare is under increasing pressure from climate change, pollution, and industrial activity in their habitat areas.
Beluga welfare is threatened by several converging human impacts. Chemical pollution accumulates in their blubber — St. Lawrence belugas have among the highest PCB and PBDE contamination of any wild cetaceans, causing immune suppression and cancer. Noise pollution from shipping and oil and gas exploration masks the echolocation they use for feeding and the vocalizations that maintain social bonds. Sea ice loss increases orca predation risk in populations that use ice as refuge. Captive belugas face profound welfare challenges — their social complexity, cognitive sophistication, and acoustic communication needs cannot be met in dolphinarium pools. The welfare case for phasing out captive beluga programs is strong.