A male beluga whale born at Shedd Aquarium in 2000 died of a bacterial blood infection March 28 at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash., according to a necropsy report the zoo released late this week.
The whale, named Qannik, was the first successful male birth in the Shedd’s captive beluga breeding program. The Shedd moved him to the Tacoma zoo two years ago because managers of the North American captive beluga population did not want him to remain with his mother, Mauyak, when he reached sexual maturity.
Three weeks before his death, Qannik stopped eating, said Karen Wolf, chief veterinarian at the Tacoma Zoo.
“He wasn’t interacting with trainers as he normally would,” said Wolf. “He never resumed eating on his own, and we never got him to turn around to make a recovery.”
The bacteria found in the necropsy, common in marine environments and often found in marine mammals, is harmless unless it gets into the bloodstream.
“We can’t figure out how it got into Qannik’s bloodstream,” Wolf said. The necropsy also found evidence of gastrointestinal disease, which may have made him more susceptible to infection.
Tacoma’s remaining beluga, a 17-year-old male named Beethoven, remains healthy and active, she said.
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