Beluga whales charm nature lovers in Ingonish, but don't get too close

For about a week now, two beluga whales off the coast of Ingonish, N.S., have been charming locals and visitors, but a marine animal protection groupsays people need to keep a distance.

"We've been hearing about people swimming with the animals, and going up and trying to get near it or patting the animals and really engaging with them, and that is quite concerning," said Tonya Wimmer, executive director of the Marine Animal Response Society.

Curious creatures

The whales have been approaching boaters and paddleboarders.

Bernie Lamey, an Ingonish resident, said the whales are the talk of the rural Cape Breton community. He said he's been out to see them almost daily for the past four or five days.

"They're more interested, I think, in us than we are in them," Lamey said.

Lameydocumentedhis encounter with the whales and shared it on Facebook. In his video, he goes from his paddleboard into the water and the whales swim up to him.

"They come within inches of you. They don't really touch you, but they come very close," he said.

Belugas in Ingonishbefore

LevonDrover, a wildlife photographer,shot video of the whaleswith a drone andtook underwater video with aGoProand shared it on Instagram.

"It was a really cool experience to be underwater with them," Drover said. "You don't really understand how intelligent an animal really is until you're looking it in the eye. You can almost see it looking back at you thinking the exact same thing."

Both Drover andLameyrecall seeing beluga whalesin the same area inIngonishyears ago.

"It was the last year I actually lived here and they were in the same area," saidLamey. "So it was pretty cool actually to see them back 25 years later."

Drover said the whale stayedfor about three weeks before it left.

"I was just a little kid and I remember going out in the surf and you could see the white whale in the surf waves swimming along and everyone was out swimming with it, snorkeling with it," Drover said.

Safe distances

Drover said when he's gone out to see the whales this time, he noticed people were being careful around them.

"Everyone on those boats, they were ecstatic that they were getting to see this and everybody was really responsible around the whales and made sure they were clear of the whales before they kept on moving," he said.

"It was pretty impressive to see everybody treating the situation how it should have been treated."

Wimmer said beluga whales are wild animals that can beunpredictable. She said keeping a safe distance from them isabout human safetyas much as it is about animal welfare.

Wimmer said beluga whalesin particular can becomeattached to people, causing a whale to stay in an area for longer than it should and altering its natural behaviour. She said when a whale becomes too familiar, itcan lead to devastating results.

"They want to go up and they want to look at the propellers on boats and look at the bubbles coming off it or if there are people in the water ... just because they're curious and they don't want to leave," said Wimmer.

Federal rules

Wimmersuspects the beluga whales in Ingonish are from theSt. Lawrence estuary population, a group that is protected under the federal Species at Risk Act.

"Like with any wild animal, enjoy it but keep a safe distance," Wimmer said.

Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans said people should never swim or dive with whales.

In 2015, when a beluga whale named "Whaley" visited Grates Cove, N.L., a DFOresearch scientist warned that some marine animals can carry harmful bacteria that can be transmitted to humans.

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