<b>A furious row broke out last night when it emerged a performing whale will be transported in a bag of water all the way from the USA for the re-opening of the open-air Broomhill Pool in Ipswich.</b>

A theme park in Florida is currently testing the huge bags on its captive orca whales to see which one is best suited for the long transatlantic journey to Suffolk.

<center><a href="http://www.suffolkgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/whales-broomhill.jpg"><img src="http://www.suffolkgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/whales-broomhill-566x377.jpg" alt="Captive whales in a bag" width="566" height="377" class="aligncenter size-thumb_566x377 wp-image-2134" /></a></center><center><i>Whales in a bag being trialled for the UK trip</center></i><br><br>

The whales are scooped up into the bags, which are made of toughened plastic and tied at the top with large bands. They have just enough water and air to get by for a seven-hour trip on a cargo plane.

Staff say once the most suitable whale is selected, it will be placed in the bag once a month to ensure it will be fully accustomed to it for the pool opening in 2018.

But animal welfare campaigners said using a performing whale to relaunch Broomhill, which is being refurbished after closing to the public in 2002, was a "dreadful" mistake - and the method of transportation was "barbaric".

Ipswich council officials were shocked when shown our photograph, which was passed to the Suffolk Gazette by US investigative newspaper <a href="http://www.theonion.com/" target="_blank">The Onion</a>.

<h2>Performing whale</h2>

A council insider said: "We did want a performing whale at the grand re-opening of the Broomhill lido - we thought it would make it go with a splash. But after seeing how the whale would be transported, we will probably vote to change our plans at our next meeting.

"We'll probably ask former Olympic swimmer Karen Pickering to open it instead."

Owners of the Splash 'N Dash theme park near Miami, which uses five orcas for its main show, were confused by the uproar.

"We're not sure what the fuss is about. The bags are perfectly safe for the whales, which go into a sort of hypnotic state when they are inside them.

"These sort of tied bags had been used by funfairs for goldfish for years without any problems whatsoever - all we have done is scaled them up a bit. Have a nice day."

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