Touching new experience costs a whale of a $200

If you want to meet one of the Shedd Aquarium's beluga whales, pet it, stroke it, perhaps gently butt heads with it and even scratch its wet, slimy tongue, this is what is required:You must be at least 10 years old and at least 5 feet tall, have clean hands, be prepared to obey all the rules set forth by a senior keeper, and come with $200.That is the per-person fee the Shedd is charging for its new "Beluga Encounter" program, which allows the public a very close, hands-on encounter with the whales for the first time.The Shedd quietly opened the program on the July 4 weekend in a new pool walled off from public view by new artificial rockwork in the recently reopened Oceanarium facility. The 90,000-gallon, 16-foot-deep pool, named the "Grainger Beluga Encounter Habitat," was built as part of a $50 million renovation project last winter.During a media event to explain the program Tuesday, Ken Ramirez, the Shedd's senior vice president for animal collections, led five journalists in chest-high waders onto a ledge in the encounter pool, where they stood in three feet of 50-degree water and met Kayavak, 10, a 1,000-pound female beluga.Ramirez soon had the reporters interacting with the spirited Kayavak, allowing them to stroke her bulbous head and her smooth, soft back. She enthusiastically touched outstretched hands, nuzzled heads with those who leaned over for a kiss and playfully bumped heads with those who invited it."This isn't anything new for the whales," Ramirez said. "Everything they do with the guest encounters are things they do in their everyday training sessions, demonstrations of natural behaviors."The difference is that they usually do it with keepers they know very well, and here they do it with strangers. It seems to be fun for them."To keep it fun and not overwhelm the whales, Ramirez said the guest encounters are limited to five sessions a week, one on Tuesday and two on Fridays and Saturdays, with just three to six guests participating in each session. Any but the youngest of the aquarium's seven belugas might be the featured animal.