Marineland asks Canadian government for emergency cash to feed whales — or euthanasia imminent

Ottawa, Ontario (AP) – Marineland Park near Niagara Falls asked the Canadian government on Friday that emergency financing nourishes and takes care of its whales, saying that euthanasia was otherwise imminent.

The Minister of Fisheries, Joanne Thompson, earlier this week, denied Marineland’s request to export 30 Belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, an aquarium in China. Thompson said that the decision is in accordance with a 2019 law, which makes it illegal to use whales and dolphins in entertainment emissions or keep them in captivity.

The tourist attraction says that Chimelong was the only option for belugas like no sanctuary that could help exist and there is no other marine park with enough space.

Marineland, in a letter to the government, says that she is fully indebted and short of money, and asked Thompson if she could help find another place to send the whales.

The park says that the only option is to move the whales, otherwise it will be forced to euthanize them.

Twenty whales – a killer and 19 Belugas – have died in the park since 2019, according to a database created by the Canadian press agency based on internal files and official declarations.

Thompson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

Marineland announced that she was on sale at the beginning of 2023 and closed the public at the end of the summer of 2024. He did not open this year while he is trying to sell the park and the large bunch of land which he owns near Horseshoe Falls. No sale has yet been announced.

The law which prohibited the captivity of whales did not apply to the current population of captive whales in Marineland, but the park had to comply with another part of the law which prohibits reproduction.