Huffington Postさんのインスタグラム写真 - (Huffington PostInstagram)「Two beluga whales are back in the ocean for the first time after spending most of their lives so far in an aquarium.⁠ ⁠ Little Grey and Little White, both females, are the first residents of the “world’s first open water sanctuary for belugas,” according to Sea Life Trust, which operates the Beluga Whale Sanctuary in Iceland’s Klettsvik Bay. The United Kingdom-based Sea Life Trust is the “partner charity” of Sea Life Aquariums, a chain of aquariums and related attractions around the world.⁠ ⁠ The whales are getting acclimatized to the seawater and assessed by veterinarians in a small, sectioned-off “care pool” in the bay before they’re ready to be released into the larger sanctuary, the organization said in a news release earlier this week.⁠ ⁠ “It’s been quite the journey for these two,” Audrey Padgett, the Beluga Whale Sanctuary’s general manager, told CNN. “It hasn’t been easy, but it’s definitely been a labor of love.”⁠ ⁠ The two belugas, both about 12 years old, have distinctly different personalities. Little Grey is playful and mischievous, while Little White is more reserved and has close bonds with human caretakers, according to the BBC.⁠ ⁠ Once they’re deemed ready, Little Grey and Little White will have access to the full seawater sanctuary, which is 8 acres and separated from the rest the bay with netting that spans the depth of the water, according to LiveScience. Because of their long time in captivity, they aren’t good candidates for simply being released into the wild.⁠ ⁠ The arduous process of building the sanctuary and transferring Little Grey and Little White will hopefully pave the way for other whales, said Cathy Williamson of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a nonprofit that worked with Sea Life Trust to create the sanctuary, in a statement sent to HuffPost.⁠ ⁠ “Creating the world’s first whale sanctuary has taken considerable time and effort, but now we have done it we will be able to free whales much quicker in the future, as well as sharing our expertise with others,” she said.⁠ ⁠ Read more at our link in bio. // 📷 Getty Images」8月16日 23時02分