Two Beluga whales will move nearly 10,000 kilometres from their Shanghai marine park home to the world's first Beluga whale sanctuary in Iceland.
Little White and Little Grey are two 12-year-old female Beluga whales, who have been living at Changfeng Ocean World in China under a SEA LIFE protection program.
In spring they will move to the new sanctuary, which measures a colossal 32,000 square metres and is just off the coast of Klerrsvik Bay in Iceland.
Andy Bool who heads the SEA LIFE Trust told Reuters it is a world first.
"It's the first time anybody has built a whale sanctuary like this."
The whales are currently in training for their journey by building up their strength with swimming and exercises and being taught how to hold their breaths for longer under water, as well as being introduced to the stretchers they will travel on.
The organisation hopes this will showcase the importance of having more Marine Protected Areas around the world.
Campaigners behind the movement for more protected areas are also hoping it will encourage more entertainment parks to release animals into more natural environments.
According to Greenmatters, currently 70 per cent of earth is covered by ocean and only 2 per cent of this protected leaving the rest susceptible to plastic pollution and overfishing.
Beluga whales are the smallest of the whale spieces in the world and are listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.
In 2014 there was an estimated 340 of them left.
Newshub.
