Media Release
For Immediate Release
TORONTO—Marineland’s threatening letter to the federal government comes across as a desperate attempt to rewrite history. In the letter, sent October 3, Marineland says it will kill its surviving 30 beluga whales unless the federal government starts paying to care for the animals.
Marineland’s proposal to relocate the 30 surviving belugas to a subpar Chinese aquarium—which was rightly denied by the federal government—was doomed from the start. Canada’s laws are clear: exporting whales can only be done if in the best interests of the whales. Breeding whales and forcing them to perform is not in their interests.
Marineland has ample resources and should have developed a serious plan for the whales’ future when Canada passed laws in 2019 banning the captivity of whales. Instead, Marineland waited until the last minute, then put forward a half-baked sale scheme that obviously would never meet the legal standard set out in federal law. Now, Marineland is attempting to foist its responsibility onto the government instead of being accountable for the belugas.
“Marineland has spent decades profiting from keeping whales in miserable tanks, and is now sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property in Niagara Falls. Marineland has a moral obligation to fund the future care of these animals,” said Camille Labchuk, lawyer and executive director of Animal Justice. “Canada finally has laws to protect whales and they can’t just be ignored for convenience—or because Marineland mismanaged its finances. Marineland is holding a literal gun to the head of innocent whales while attempting to extort Canadian taxpayers.”
“This crisis didn’t appear overnight. It’s the product of decades of neglect and cruelty. Marineland’s attempt to strong-arm the government into reversing its decision, even implying it may kill the whales, is reprehensible,” Ms. Labchuk said.
In the short term, Ontario has the authority to seize or care for the animals, and can recover full costs from Marineland when the property is sold. The ultimate goal for these belugas should be their transfer to a reputable marine mammal sanctuary, where they can live in a more natural environment and receive specialized, long-term care. Sanctuaries offer a chance for these highly intelligent and social animals to recover from the stresses of captivity and to live out their lives with greater freedom and dignity.
The Whale Sanctuary Project has been working to develop a seaside sanctuary in Nova Scotia, which would see a large cove netted off to provide vastly more space for the whales than any aquarium could offer.
Animal Justice is urging the federal and provincial governments to work together to transfer as many belugas as possible to seaside sanctuaries such as this, where they can finally live in a more natural and dignified environment.
Twenty whales have died at Marineland since 2019—one killer whale and 19 belugas.
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Contact:
Camille Labchuk
[email protected]
