Two belugas take a jumbo jet to Iceland

Name: Two belugas take a jumbo jet to Iceland
Uploaded: 2020-08-10T13:13:47Z
Duration: 4 min 26 s
Description: Little White and Little Gray were barely a couple of years old when they were caught. Almost a decade later, a team set out to move them nearly halfway around the world.

Little White and Little Gray were barely a couple of years old when they were caught. Almost a decade later, a team set out to move them nearly halfway around the world. more

The two female belugas spent time at a research station in Russia before they were sent to Ocean World in Shanghai, China. They lived there for close to ten years, doing tricks in return for fish.

Sea Life Trust, a group based in the UK, took on their rescue. The goal was a sea sanctuary in Klettsvik Bay, in Iceland's Westman Islands. Getting there meant crossing almost half the planet with two very large passengers.

Each whale rode in a sling bag made for the trip and built to protect her body. As one of them is lifted in her sling, she looks for all the world like she is grinning. That grin is the part people talk about most.

A beluga whale with a blue tag near water in an outdoor setting during daytime. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — Little White and Little Gray were barely a couple of years old when they were caught.

A truck carried them to a Boeing 747 cargo plane, which flew them most of the way. Vets and experts stayed with the two whales for the whole trip.

In Iceland, the last stretch was by tugboat, across the water to the bay. At the dock, a crew in hard hats stood ready beside the boat.

Three people in hard hats stand near a dock beside a large white boat with orange stripes. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — A crew in hard hats stands at the dock beside the boat for the last stretch by sea.

Even then, nobody rushed them out to sea. The whales went first into a care pool by the bay, to get used to their new water a step at a time. The team wanted to be sure they could handle the open sea before moving them into the wider sanctuary bay, which is bigger than any tank they have known.