Save the Beluga whales

In 2008, as many as 500,000 tourists went out to sea to look at the Beluga whales – the earnings for the Canadian Government were in the region of 80 to 100 million dollars. However, in the 1920s, these Beluga whales were a source of headache for the Canadians because they would devour the fish. There were standing instructions, with financial incentives, to destroy them. During the First World War, the pilots used these whales as targets for practice bombings because they were visible from the air due to the whitish color. The result is that today, there is hardly a handful of these beluga whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary. These are now included in the category of endangered species and are protected – and, they are the attraction of tourists. From being a source of terror, they are today money earners for the Government due to tourism. Families who once hunted these whales are their protectors today.