Mystic ― Mystic Aquarium announced Tuesday evening that a third beluga whale from Canada has died.

“With profound sadness, we announce the passing of Kharabali, a beloved beluga whale who joined us from Marineland in May 2021. This loss weighs heavily on us, especially our animal care staff. It is defeating and disheartening as the team works fiercely and with immense compassion to ensure these whales receive world-class care in sickness and health,” said Meagan Seacor, the aquarium’s vice president of external relations, in a statement Tuesday evening.

The nine-year-old female whale died Monday after spending 11 days in the aquarium’s Aquatic Animal Study Center intensive care unit receiving around the clock care.

Kharabali began to exhibit strange swimming behavior in November, which the aquarium’s animal husbandry team immediately attempted to diagnose and treat, but the animal’s condition continued to worsen.

The aquarium said the cause of the whale’s death is unknown until a necropsy is conducted.

The death is the latest in a string of health problems that have plagued five of the aquarium’s belugas since their May 2021 arrival from Marineland, a themed zoo and amusement park in Niagara Falls, Canada.

Within one year of arrival, two of the five animals died — Havok in August 2021 and Havana in February 2022. Tuesday’s statement said both animals were found to have underlying, incurable conditions that were diagnosed post-mortem.

A third whale, Jetta, spent more than a year in critical condition before recovering and returning to the main habitat. The statement said that Jetta’s recovery had offered hope that the worst had passed.

The aquarium now has five whales, two from Marineland and three from its own collection.

Mystic Aquarium has faced ongoing criticism over the transfer of the whales and the deaths of Havok and Havana, including a report critical of Havok’s care by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that resulted in five citations.

The aquarium also provided a statement by Marineland on Tuesday on the death of Kharabali.

"We cannot thank Mystic Aquarium enough. They provide exceptional care for beluga whales, and despite being amid the challenges of COVID-19, in May 2021, Mystic Aquarium took these five whales on for us to provide the world-class care and expertise they needed. This collaboration underscores the global community's shared responsibility for animal welfare," it read.

Marineland has come under intense scrutiny by animal welfare organizations and government agencies for the condition of its animals, including the mistreatment, poor health and inadequate habitats of the approximately 37 beluga whales currently in its care.

The current population of beluga whales at the Canadian aquarium is down from a high of 54, with 14 dying in just the two-year period between 2019 and 2021. On Sunday, Urgent Seas, an animal rights organization announced on its various social media accounts that another of the Marineland belugas had died, though Marineland had not confirmed the death on Tuesday evening.

Dr. Naomi Rose, senior scientist in marine biology at the Animal Welfare Institute, said in a statement on Tuesday that the organization was saddened by the death of Kharabali, and that it had opposed the import of the whales from the beginning for legal and animal welfare reasons.

“These whales were supposed to be healthy prior to transport, but it is likely that all had pre-existing conditions,” Rose said.

“The wider zoo and aquarium community — which states at every opportunity that the welfare of its animals is paramount— should send medical experts to Marineland at once to address the underlying health conditions of the whales that remain there and fix the problem at the source. This is what Mystic should have done from the outset,” she said.

Mystic Aquarium has previously said it sent researchers to Marineland to assist in addressing the numerous issues the Canadian facility has encountered, including poor water quality and animal deaths.

A devastating November 2021 report on conditions at Marineland by Dr. Ingrid Visser, a cetacean expert, prepared for One Voice, an international animal rights group, documented extensive violations of Canadian animal welfare laws and recommended, among other possible actions, that the facility’s marine mammals be “moved as soon as possible.”

The aquarium’s statement concluded by saying the aquarium community has been deeply affected by Kharabali’s loss and it is grateful for the support it has received from the broader community, adding that condolences or questions can be directed to animalinfo@mysticaquarium.org.