Animal welfare group World Animal Protection Canada has slammed Ontario’s themed zoo and amusement park Marineland’s announcement that it would continue its display of beluga whales during the 2024 season while shutting down its other animal attractions.
“Marineland is doubling down on its so-called ‘Friendship Cove’, which is nothing but a substandard venue for innocent beluga whales to be exploited for entertainment,” said Melissa Matlow, campaign director for World Animal Protection Canada.
“Animal welfare groups like us have been concerned for years and after recently being found guilty of animal neglect, Marineland has lost public trust in its ability to care for animals,” she said.
Marineland’s announcement on Wednesday about the new season suggests the facility may be moving away from its animal attractions, but falls short of a complete transition, World Animal Protection Canada said in a press release. Earlier this year, it was rumoured that the facility would shut down and employees were being laid off, but the announcement of the new season appears to have laid those rumours to rest. The Marineland website is currently inaccessible with a notice saying it is undergoing maintenance ahead of the start of the new season.
World Animal Protection Canada said questions remain about who will take over the beleaguered facility, after a news release in April claiming a ‘potential sale’, and the status of its animals and other species housed in its land-animal exhibits, aquarium, and so-called ‘penguin palace’.
Also Read: Animal welfare group calls Ontario’s Marineland a death trap
The belugas that remain are kept in increasingly substandard conditions and deserve better, the group said.
In April, the Canadian press reported a horrifying 16 beluga whales, one orca, one dolphin, two seals, and two sea lions had died in suspicious circumstances at Marineland since 2019. Marineland was also found guilty under Ontario’s animal welfare legislation of failing to comply with an order related to the care of three young black bears.
The Government of Ontario has a role to play in ensuring the transfer of ownership of Marineland leads to higher standards of living for the animals it owns, the animal welfare group said. “World Animal Protection is renewing its call to have Marineland either transition away completely from animal entertainment or be shut down by the province,” said Matlow. “The fire sale of Marineland is being done with little to no transparency or oversight from the Government of Ontario and that must change.”
Marineland, like so many other under-regulated facilities in Ontario, continues to dodge accountability because of Ontario’s weak animal welfare enforcement, which has bred a culture of non-compliance with what little regulations exist in the province, the organization said.
Source: PR Newswire
