The Ministry of the Solicitor General made a list with information about deaths at tourist spots
The Canadian Press has learned that 14 whales and one dolphin have died at the Ontario theme park Marineland since 2019. The park has been under investigation for animal welfare for a long time.
A list made by the Ministry of the Solicitor General in response to freedom of information requests has information about the deaths at the tourist attraction in Niagara Falls, Ont.
Only two of the 15 marine mammals that died in the park were not beluga whales.
Twelve of the belugas died within a two-year period. A beluga named Ikora died on Oct. 24, 2019, followed by 10 others and a beluga named Bull on Nov. 23, 2021. The ministry said that three more animals have died this year. They were Kiska, the only killer whale in the park, a dolphin, and another beluga.
During that time, provincial officials were worried about the quality of the water in the park and said that all of the marine mammals were in trouble.
In May 2021, the province told the park to fix its water. Marineland fought the order, saying that its animals were not in danger.
Marineland said that there was no link between the deaths of beluga whales and how the water they lived in was.
Marineland’s website also says that it has a “strong record” of taking care of its animals and will “continue to prioritize their health and wellbeing.”
When asked why 15 marine mammals have died at Marineland since 2019 and what the province has done to help the animals there, the Ministry of the Solicitor General pointed to the province’s ongoing investigation and said, “Any questions about why the marine mammals at Marineland died should be sent to Marineland.”
In January 2020, the provincial investigation started. At least 160 times, people from Animal Welfare Services have checked out the park.
Marineland didn’t answer questions about the health of its animals, but a reporter from The Canadian Press who went to the park was told not to come back.
On a rainy Friday in June, the reporter and a Canadian Press photographer each paid $52.95 plus tax to get into Marineland. During the visit, The Canadian Press noticed a few differences from the last time they were at the park.
The public can’t feed the belugas anymore, and the dolphin and sea lion shows are shorter.
Before one of the dolphins died, the park’s dolphins, of which there were five until recently, put on elaborate shows in which they did many different tricks.
Now, two sea lions and four dolphins give 15-minute “trainer talks” at the King Waldorf stadium. Trainers talk about how the animals live at Marineland and in the wild, as well as how important it is to protect them. The dolphins do a few tricks, like spinning around while half out of the water, and get fish as a reward.
Staff at the park say there are 37 belugas. In Friendship Cove, there are nine male belugas and 28 females live in Arctic Cove.
An affidavit filed by Marineland’s president, Marie Holer, with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that there were 54 belugas at the park four years ago. This was the most belugas kept in captivity anywhere in the world. When Marineland sold five belugas to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, the affidavit was part of the U.S. import process.
In 2021, these five belugas moved. Since then, two of them have died, which made the U.S. government start an investigation that is still going on.
“It’s time to change what Marineland is used for.
After her husband, Marineland’s founder John Holer, died in 2018, Holer took over as owner. Early this year, the park said it was for sale.
Wayne Gates, a New Democrat provincial representative for Niagara Falls who has defended the park for a long time, said he thinks it’s time for Marineland to change. He said the park should stop caring for animals and focus on rides and other entertainment instead.
“Marineland needs to be changed so it can be used for new things,” he said.
Marineland is a big employer in the area, according to Gates. It has about 100 full-time workers and as many as 700 seasonal workers from May to October. Gates said that a new attraction would bring more tourists to the area.
Animal rights activists say that the lack of information from the provincial investigation body is making it harder to figure out what happened at Marineland.
Since taking over law enforcement from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Animal Welfare Services has not put out a single news release about any of its cases.
Some people say that the lack of information about investigations paid for by taxpayers is a problem, especially since the government said that making Animal Welfare Services would make it easier to see how animal cruelty laws are enforced.
“The public has a right to know,” said Kendra Coulter, a professor at Huron University College at Western University and an expert on animal protection groups.
“We can’t be active citizens who talk to our provincial lawmakers if we don’t even know what the problems are.”
In July, when asked a question, the office of the Solicitor General said that it was looking at how it communicated.
A spokesman for Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, Hunter Kell, said in an email that the Ministry of the Solicitor General is looking into how AWS information about law enforcement is shared with the public.
“We are committed to giving timely and accurate information about AWS cases. However, informational disclosures must be balanced against the need to protect the integrity of ongoing legal processes and investigations.”
For a hundred years, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was in charge of enforcing laws against cruelty to animals. By 2019, it was getting $5.75 million a year from the province, but it said that the 15,000 cases of animal cruelty it had to deal with each year were too much.
The next year, Animal Welfare Services took over. It has a budget of about $21 million per year.
The Canadian Press used the Freedom of Information Act to ask for copies of inspection reports, orders given to Marineland, a 65-page ministry report about the water at the park, and a list of animals that have died there.
A freedom-of-information officer said the information could “interfere with a law enforcement matter” and “constitute an unjustified invasion of personal privacy.” So, the requests were denied.
The Canadian Press filed a complaint. The process moved into mediation, which led to the approval of one request: a one-page list of whale deaths and necropsy reports.
Camille Labchuk, who runs the group Animal Justice, said that people in Ontario need more information. She said that the provincial agency should act like police departments, which send out news releases and hold press conferences even when investigations are still going on.
“When laws about protecting animals are enforced in such a secretive and unclear way, the public can’t know for sure what Animal Welfare Services is doing at Marineland or anywhere else,” she said.