{"id":73806,"date":"2026-06-04T03:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T03:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/73806\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T03:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T03:10:11","slug":"whales-from-canadas-shuttered-marineland-park-are-getting-a-chance-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/73806\/","title":{"rendered":"Whales from Canada’s shuttered Marineland park are getting a chance"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Canada’s government endorsed a plan Wednesday to move the last remaining captive whales from a shuttered theme park in Ontario<\/a> to aquariums in the United States and Spain \u2014 a plan that could save them from mass euthanasia if the deal goes through.<\/p>\n

There are 30 belugas and four dolphins left in the Marineland park and zoo in Niagara Falls<\/a>, Ontario, which announced in early 2023 that it was for sale and closed to the public in late summer 2024. No sale has yet been announced.<\/p>\n

The former tourist attraction has since worked to move the park\u2019s remaining animals and sell the sprawling property near Horseshoe Falls.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Marineland was found guilty under Ontario\u2019s animal cruelty laws in a case related to its care of three black bears.<\/p>\n

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has issued the first batch of permits to move the whales and is set to issue different permits closer to the move, expected to take place in the next few months. It recently issued permits for the whales and dolphins under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, otherwise known as CITES permits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is a positive step forward,\u201d Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson said. \u201cThere\u2019s still more work to be done, but it\u2019s a step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty whales \u2014 19 belugas and one killer whale \u2014 have died at Marineland since 2019, according to provincial government data obtained through freedom-of-information laws and official statements.<\/p>\n

Thompson’s office said the ministry is coordinating with the Canada Border Services Agency, Health Canada and other ministries to \u201censure all requirements are met for a safe and timely transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marineland said it is \u201cfully committed to the safe and timely relocation of our beluga whales, and we want to be clear: this is our top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRelocating these animals is an extraordinarily complex undertaking,\u201d the park said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The Canadian government has not decided whether it will provide taxpayer dollars to help move the whales.<\/p>\n

The belugas and dolphins are set to head to five marine parks: Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, SeaWorld locations in San Antonio and San Diego, and Oceanografic Valencia.<\/p>\n

Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, where Marineland sent five belugas to in 2021, will also help with the move, the American consortium said.<\/p>\n

Marineland’s founder, John Holer, died in 2018. His wife, Marie Holer, took over operations of the park and put it up for sale in 2023, before she died in 2024.<\/p>\n

The estate has been working since to dismantle the park, which features roller-coasters and other rides.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Canada’s government endorsed a plan Wednesday to move the last remaining captive whales from a shuttered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10247,525,17,29775,12962,29770,592,431,29767,218],"class_list":["post-73806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-animals","tag-business","tag-canada","tag-canada-whales-marineland-captive-niagara-falls","tag-climate-and-environment","tag-dolphins-and-porpoises","tag-general-news","tag-science","tag-whales","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}