The Marineland park near Niagara Falls asked the Canadian government on Friday for emergency funding to feed and care for its whales, saying euthanasia is otherwise imminent.
Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson earlier this week denied Marineland’s request to export 30 belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, an aquarium in China. Thompson said then the decision is consistent with a 2019 law making it illegal to use whales and dolphins in entertainment shows or keep them in captivity.
The tourist attraction says Chimelong was the only option for the belugas as no sanctuary that could help exists and there is no other marine park with enough room.
Marineland, in a letter to the government, says it’s fully indebted and quickly running out of money, and has asked Thompson if she can help find another place to send the whales.
The park says the only option is to relocate the whales or else it will be forced to euthanize them.
Twenty whales — one killer whale and 19 belugas — have died at the park since 2019, according to a database created by The Canadian Press news agency based on internal records and official statements.
Thompson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Marineland announced it was for sale in early 2023 and closed to the public in late summer 2024. It did not open this year as it looks to sell the park and the vast swath of land it owns near Horseshoe Falls. No sale has yet been announced.
The law that banned whale captivity did not apply to the existing population of captive whales at Marineland, but the park had to comply with another part of the law that forbade breeding.
