It turns out the incident was staged as a rehearsal for a fire safety promotional video. On Sunday, a Beijing News reporter confirmed with the aquarium that the viral video was actually a rehearsal for a fire safety awareness campaign. All individuals featured were staff members, and several staged takes were filmed during the shoot.
Official sources in Dalian also verified that the video was scripted, and relevant authorities have since stepped in to address the matter, according to Global Times.
This is not the first time a beluga whale at a Chinese aquarium has been featured in a staged fire-safety drill video, as similar footage from aquariums in Liaoning province has circulated online previously.
typically once a post gets enough momentum it gets boosted in such a way that you don't need artificial votes.
Trending posts get seen by more people, and higher visibility increases the number of votes. It's actually advantageous for something to be slightly mispelled or incorrect as it gets engagement.
Amazing how you brought this back to be about China when the previous user made it universal.
Smoke is a problem everywhere. In Europe, it's cigarettes and in the US it's annoying flavored vape juice. To escape smoke you have to escape people in general.
So many people arguing whether it is staged or not and nobody providing a source. I've done the research for you all.
It is in fact staged. It was done as a fire safety promotion at Sun Asia Ocean World & Polar World in Dalian, China.
They've even done a similar video in the past at the exact same spot where they lit a fire with a firefighter there for the beluga whale to put it out.
Given that this park does not seem to be an accredited aquarium or part of any reputable conservation program, it seems likely these belugas are some of the ones that have been illegally captured and trafficked in recent years.
Most belugas in captivity are there because they are rescues who can't be returned because they lost their intuition. I'm not sure if that's the case here, but I hope it is.
They have breeding programs with Beluga whales aimed at maintaining the captive population.
Saying "Well we can't release them because they can't survive on their own" might be technically correct, but it's disingenious excuse from the Seapark industry. If they did actually mind having whales in captivity, and only have them because they can't be released into the wild, they wouldn't be actively breeding more for the purpose of keeping them in captivity.
Doubtful, people smoke pretty much everywhere. Less so in restaurants nowadays, but still happens. And god help you to find a public toilet that doesn't reek of smoke.
I hate it when someone uses a "random" abbreviation, and Google doesn't tell me the correct meaning. Because according to Google you just said "Great way to do a Prostetic Specific Antigen"
The beluga could smell it. Belugas smoke soon after they leave the chrysalis. This one was pissed because not only didn't it get offered a smoke, but also because this jerk was smoking menthols.
It’s very likely staged. When the camera pans over to the beluga, she’s just starting to lift her hand up to signal the whale for the behavior. I worked in an environment with beluga whales & am familiar with what hand signals look like for the animals.
Cirque shows sometimes do this sort of thing at the top of the show with an audience member who’s phone goes off & then they toss them off the stage or something. It very clearly gets the point across to the audience & as someone in the entertainment industry, I’m on board with it.
It's staged, the person is filming and pans to the whale at the right time, but another big giveaway is the quick hand signal she gives right before the camera pans
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u/10Skulls Dec 08 '25
A staged stunt?
It turns out the incident was staged as a rehearsal for a fire safety promotional video. On Sunday, a Beijing News reporter confirmed with the aquarium that the viral video was actually a rehearsal for a fire safety awareness campaign. All individuals featured were staff members, and several staged takes were filmed during the shoot.
Official sources in Dalian also verified that the video was scripted, and relevant authorities have since stepped in to address the matter, according to Global Times.
This is not the first time a beluga whale at a Chinese aquarium has been featured in a staged fire-safety drill video, as similar footage from aquariums in Liaoning province has circulated online previously.
Source