Marineland, a sort of zoo/amusement park mashup in Ontario, Canada, is threatening to kill 30 beluga whales after it wanted to send them to China. The Canadian government, however, said no. The park, which found itself in a bind, then asked for cash so workers would be able to keep caring for the whales, but that request was denied as well. Now Marineland says it doesn’t have much of a choice in the fate of the whales, since it’s not allowed to send them to China and it doesn’t have the money to give the whales a decent life.
Marineland, which recently closed, has long been at the pointy end of animal welfare activists’ sticks, much like many other parks that keep sea animals for our entertainment. It takes a while to fully shut down a park like Marineland, though, and the question of what to do with the animals is a tough one. According to a database created by The Canadian Press, 20 whales — an orca and 19 belugas — have died at the Niagara Falls, Ontario, tourist attraction since 2019.
The BBC reported that park officials stated that the facility was in a “critical financial state” after it was permanently closed in September of 2024. Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson, the one who denied both the request to move the whales and the request for funding, said that the request to move the whales was denied because they likely would face substandard levels of care.
“I could not in good conscience approve an export that would perpetuate the treatment these belugas have endured,” she said. “To approve the request would have meant a continued life in captivity and a return to public entertainment.”
As far as the funding, Thompson is of the opinion that Marinland’s issue shouldn’t mean the Canadian government should have to shell out for the whales’ care.
As you might’ve expected, Marineland’s threats to kill the whales was not met with happiness by animal rights groups. Camille Labchuk, executive director of Canadian animal rights group Animal Justice, said Marineland had “a moral obligation to fund the future care of these animals,” adding that threats to euthanize them were “reprehensible.”
