In the past three years, three beluga whales have died in the Georgia Aquarium. Among them, two were infants and lately, Maris herself has died. For now, the aquarium could not know the reason behind the death.

In the case of infants, they failed to thrive. On Thursday afternoon, Maris died, but as per the aquarium officials, the 21-year-old beluga whale appeared to be healthy. In fact, she has passed her weakly health exam and no symptom of illness was felt. She was having proper diet.

The death had severely affected the care givers at the aquarium. Visitors who came on Friday morning were not aware of the big loss. Maris was born in 1994 at the New York Aquarium. In 2005, she came to the Georgia Aquarium.

In 2012, she gave birth to her first baby, who had many medical issues and could not survive. “We initially became concerned when the calf was born and needed assistance from the divers to bring it to the surface to breathe”, affirmed aquarium chief veterinary officer Gregory Bossart.

Again in May, Maris gave birth who turned out to be great swimmer. Everything was going well and a month later, the calf started showing signs of lethargy and required help to swim. The baby could not survive and died on June 5.

As per preliminary diagnosis, the baby suffered from gastrointestinal issues. University of Georgia pathologists and the aquarium are performing necropsy and will then find out the reason of death.