{"id":2190427,"date":"2026-03-22T18:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T17:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2190427"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:12:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T13:12:53","slug":"belugas-facing-euthanasia-at-shuttered-canada-theme-park-may-find-new-homes-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/belugas-facing-euthanasia-at-shuttered-canada-theme-park-may-find-new-homes-in-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Belugas facing euthanasia at shuttered Canada theme park may find new homes in US"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For about three decades, beluga whales and bottlenose dolphins greeted more than a million annual visitors to Marineland of Canada. In the sprawling 162-hectare (400-acre) theme park, located a stone\u2019s throw from the world-famous Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada, dozens of cetaceans enthralled visitors \u2014 splashing, spyhopping and leaping in their concrete-lined tanks.<\/p>\n

Marineland\u2019s peppy\u00a0jingle, \u201cEveryone loves Marineland,\u201d evoked a happy place where love transcended species, and people and marine mammals shared joy. But what the cameras didn\u2019t show was their lives after showtime. Twenty whales \u2014 19 belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) and one killer whale (Orcinus orca) \u2014 died between 2019 and 2025.\u00a0Multiple charges\u00a0of\u00a0animal abuse\u00a0surfaced in the 2010s, though some were later\u00a0withdrawn. And a 2021 animal welfare\u00a0inspection\u00a0found marine animals in\u00a0distress\u00a0due to poor water quality in their tanks. In late 2024, Ontario\u2019s animal welfare inspectors\u00a0said\u00a0they had visited the park more than 200 times since 2020 for inspections and investigations.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Marineland\u2019s owner\u00a0died, and a year later, Canada passed the landmark\u00a0Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, which banned the keeping, breeding and trading of cetaceans for entertainment. By then, movies such as\u00a0Blackfish\u00a0and\u00a0Free Willy\u00a0had changed the public perception of captive dolphins and whales. The lively jingle had turned sour in many people\u2019s minds. In 2021, Marineland became Canada\u2019s last remaining entertainment park with cetaceans.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a>
A beluga whale at SeaWorld in San Diego, California, in 2009. The species is native to the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of the world. More than 100 belugas, most of them caught in the wild, are in captivity across 30 facilities worldwide. Image by Steve Snodgrass via\u00a0Wikimedia Commons\u00a0(CC BY 2.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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\u201cBy 2024, there were signs that Marineland was closing,\u201d Melissa Matlow, Canadian campaign director at the international NGO\u00a0World Animal Protection,<\/u>\u00a0told Mongabay in an interview. \u201cThey had already started to sell some of their animals and close some of the exhibits, so it was a reduced ticket price just to see belugas and a few other animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

It closed for the season later that year, but Marineland never\u00a0reopened\u00a0in 2025. Instead, it shuttered its doors forever. But 30 belugas, four dolphins, three seals and two sea lions remained in the park, their future uncertain. After much jostling between the theme park and the Canadian government over the last six months, and several solutions proposed and rejected, including euthanasia, the cetaceans now appear to have taken a step closer to finding new homes in the U.S.<\/p>\n

While Marineland\u2019s whales and dolphins may have a happy ending in this case, the situation presents a reckoning for countries transitioning away from holding cetaceans in concrete tanks for entertainment: How should they deal with the animals already in those tanks? Around the world, more than 3,700 cetaceans \u2014 whales, dolphins and porpoises \u2014 are kept in theme parks and aquariums, and many of them can\u2019t just be released back into the ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s messy, it\u2019s going to lead to some animal suffering, more than they already are,\u201d Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist at the U.S.-based Animal Welfare Institute, told Mongabay. \u201cWhen society shifts and decides to do something very different with a marginalized group than they were doing before \u2026 It\u2019s always messy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a>
A dolphin show underway at Marineland of Canada in 2017. Image by Dennis G. Jarvis via\u00a0Wikimedia Commons\u00a0(CC BY-SA 2.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Failed sale, threats of euthanasia loom<\/h2>\n

After news of Marineland\u2019s closure surfaced,\u00a0drone video\u00a0from late July 2025 showed the remaining belugas and dolphins circling in their pens while staff fed and petted them. In September, the theme park\u00a0requested\u00a0the federal government\u2019s permission to sell the remaining belugas to a similar facility in China.<\/p>\n

Since beluga whales are listed on Appendix II of CITES, the international wildlife trade treaty, international commercial trade of the species is regulated with import\/export permits. In addition, the Canadian fisheries minister must\u00a0authorize\u00a0any export with a Fisheries Act permit. But days after the request, the minister\u00a0denied\u00a0the permit, saying she couldn\u2019t approve the sale \u201cin good conscience\u201d as the belugas would continue to be used for entertainment.<\/p>\n

Citing its inability to care for the animals because it was in \u201ca critical financial state,\u201d Marineland\u00a0demanded\u00a0the federal government pay for the whales\u2019 upkeep. Otherwise, it said, it would have to euthanize them.<\/p>\n

That threat alarmed the public and conservationists and led to a few possible solutions. One was to send the whales to an under-construction whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia province; Marineland\u00a0turned it down,\u00a0citing concerns with water quality. Another was an Inuit-led\u00a0offer\u00a0to place them in Hudson Bay in Canada\u2019s north and reintegrate them into the wild. Yet another came from a town on the island of Newfoundland,\u00a0proposing\u00a0a sanctuary for the belugas in a sheltered cove there.<\/p>\n

But Marineland, which owns the animals, picked a fourth alternative. In January, it again asked for federal permission to send the whales and dolphins abroad, this time to four U.S. institutions accredited with the\u00a0Association of Zoos and Aquariums\u00a0(AZA): Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, and an unspecified SeaWorld location.<\/p>\n

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\"Kiska,<\/a>
Kiska, the last orca to live at Marineland of Canada, died in 2023. She was the country\u2019s last remaining orca in captivity and was called the \u201cWorld\u2019s Loneliest Orca\u201d because she spent the last 12 years of her life alone in a tank. Image by Dennis G. Jarvis via\u00a0Wikimedia Commons\u00a0(CC BY-SA 2.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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In late January, the fisheries minister\u00a0conditionally approved\u00a0these transfers, provided an accredited veterinarian gave the cetaceans a clean bill of health and Marineland shared a plan to transport the animals,\u00a0according\u00a0to CBC, the state media network. A previous transfer of five belugas in 2021 from Marineland to Mystic Aquarium ended with the\u00a0deaths of three of the animals\u00a0within 18 months.<\/p>\n

Marineland didn\u2019t respond to any of Mongabay\u2019s questions, including about the conditions of the transfer or the timeline.<\/p>\n

In separate but identical statements to Mongabay, spokespersons from the Shedd, Georgia and Mystic aquariums said \u201cit is still too early to say exactly where the belugas may go or on what timetable.\u201d They stressed their experts are focused on ensuring that any potential plan is \u201crooted in science and responds to the physical and social needs of the belugas.\u201d They didn\u2019t answer specific questions about whether the belugas would be bred or used for entertainment. SeaWorld didn\u2019t respond to any of Mongabay\u2019s questions.<\/p>\n

In a statement to Mongabay, an AZA spokesperson confirmed that experts from four AZA-accredited facilities recently visited Marineland \u201cto assess the care and physical condition of the whales\u201d and said these whales, if transferred, would \u201creceive the very best care available anywhere in the world.\u201d She also said AZA-accredited aquariums had rescued beluga whales from Kharkiv, Ukraine, that are now thriving at the Oceanogr\u00e0fic aquarium in Valencia, Spain. That transfer happened in June 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are relieved that there is a potential path forward and are following the situation closely,\u201d said Matlow from World Animal Protection. But she said the decision \u201chappened under extreme pressure\u201d with threats of euthanasia looming. \u201cThat\u2019s not how animal welfare decisions should ever be made, and these animals\u2019 lives shouldn\u2019t be used as a bargaining tactic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Mystic
Mystic Aquarium trainers play with a Beluga whale, May 2021. Image by AP Photo\/Jessica Hill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Call for governments on both sides of the border to act<\/h2>\n

For years, activists have expressed concerns over Marineland\u2019s animals.<\/p>\n

At one point, the facility was home to nearly 1,000 fallow deer. It also had the highest number of beluga whales in captivity \u2014 nearly 60 \u2014 at one time, many caught in the wild in Russian waters, and had a successful beluga-breeding program to continue the cycle of captivity.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Marineland] should never have been allowed to have that many animals in the first place,\u201d Matlow said. \u201cWe strongly believe that this animal welfare crisis at Marineland could have been prevented if Ontario had stronger rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the four U.S. institutions decide to move ahead with the beluga and dolphin transfer, they also need permits from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. agency in charge of implementing the country\u2019s\u00a0Marine Mammal Protection Act. This would be a chance for the agency to add a condition that the institutions could not breed the belugas after the transfer, said Rose from the Animal Welfare Institute. \u201cThat\u2019s my red line in the sand \u2014 don\u2019t make more of them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After Canada passed its 2019 ban on marine mammals in captivity, the beluga whales at Marineland have been separated by sex so they don\u2019t breed. When five belugas were sent to Mystic Aquarium in 2021, the NOAA permit\u00a0required\u00a0adherence to an approved breeding prevention plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe days of keeping animals for entertainment, I think, are coming to an end,\u201d Matlow said. \u201cWe just need the government to catch up to public attitudes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In February 2026, the two remaining sea lions in Marineland, both females, were\u00a0transferred\u00a0to Vancouver Aquarium to join a male there. The fate of the three seals remains unclear.<\/p>\n

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\"Tilikum<\/a>
Tilikum the orca at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, in 2009. The whale was captured in the wild when he was two years old and spent the rest of his life in captivity. He was responsible for three human deaths, which experts attributed to the stress of captivity. Image by Milan Boers via\u00a0Wikimedia Commons\u00a0(CC BY 2.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Sanctuaries as an alternative to captivity<\/h2>\n

In the wild, whales and dolphins travel tens of thousands of kilometers to hunt for their food, which is diverse. But keeping cetaceans in concrete tanks compromises their well-being, said Rose, whose three-decade-long research has looked at\u00a0how captivity affects them.\u00a0Bottlenose dolphins\u00a0(Tursiops<\/em>\u00a0spp.),\u00a0orcas\u00a0and belugas all die young in captivity, unlike many other zoo animals. Driven by stereotypy \u2014 repeated behavior seen in many zoo animals that indicates stress \u2014 cetaceans grind their teeth to nubs, resulting in cavities, and develop metabolic diseases such as\u00a0hemochromatosis\u00a0(excess iron in the blood). Inbreeding also makes them prone to genetic diseases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really, really clear cut,\u201d Rose said. \u201cYou put a large, wide-ranging carnivore in confinement, and they are going to, at the very best, develop neurosis, and at the very worst, develop serious health problems. So any argument that the industry makes that we\u2019re making their lives easier \u2026 in captivity fails on its face.\u201d<\/p>\n

But setting these animals free in the wild is also not always an option. They have been reliant on humans for food, some since birth, so they\u2019re not equipped with hunting and other social skills needed to thrive in the ocean. Sanctuaries can be the middle ground for some of the world\u2019s remaining captive cetaceans, conservationists say. \u201cThey will do far better in terms of welfare on a daily basis if they have more natural surroundings as well as human care,\u201d Rose said.<\/p>\n

One such sanctuary dedicated to whales is being developed off the coast of Nova Scotia at an estimated cost of $3.5 million. The Whale Sanctuary Project is a 40-hectare (100-acre) seaside enclosure with nets that will hold formerly captive cetaceans in the ocean, but with humans continuing to feed and care for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe give them the natural environment, a natural bottom [with] critters to interact with, waves and cold and all of that nature,\u201d Charles Vinick, the sanctuary\u2019s CEO, told Mongabay.<\/p>\n

Vinick was involved in the initiative that released Keiko, the orca who played Willy in the movie\u00a0Free Willy<\/em>\u00a0and that became the first orca to be fully released into the wild in 2002.<\/p>\n

The sanctuary says it hopes to welcome\u00a0its first whales, two orcas named Keijo and Wikie from a theme park also called Marineland in Antibes, France, in mid-2026. That park, unrelated to the one in Canada, closed in January 2025. France, too, has outlawed keeping cetaceans in captivity, and the government has\u00a0suggested\u00a0the sanctuary in Nova Scotia would be a better place for the last two orcas in the country.<\/p>\n

But the French Marineland has yet to agree to it, Vinick said. \u201cThese are whales \u2026 that have entertained millions of people. They have made millions of dollars for their owners. Aren\u2019t they owed a pension? Aren\u2019t they owed retirement?\u201d<\/p>\n

Worldwide, seaside sanctuaries are gaining traction: Iceland has a\u00a0beluga sanctuary\u00a0and Mexico is\u00a0building\u00a0one for dolphins. But there\u2019s never going to be enough space for all 3,700-plus cetaceans in captivity worldwide, because building and maintaining these sanctuaries is expensive.<\/p>\n

If the world transitions away from keeping whales and dolphins in concrete tanks, a more realistic approach would be to keep most of the animals already in captivity where they are and not bring in more from the wild, or trade or breed them, said Rose, who is a founding board member of the Whale Sanctuary Project. Some healthy ones could find homes in sanctuaries, and the very lucky few could eventually be released in the wild, she added. \u201cIt\u2019s practical. It\u2019s pragmatic and ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citations:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Marino, L., Doyle, C., Rally, H., O\u2019Brien, L., Tennison, M., & Jacobs, B. (2025). An update on captive cetacean welfare.\u00a0PeerJ<\/em>,\u00a013<\/em>, e19878. doi:10.7717\/peerj.19878<\/a><\/p>\n

This article<\/a> by Spoorthy Raman was first published by Mongabay on 11 March 2026. Lead Image: Visitors interact with belugas at Marineland of Canada, in 2001. At one point, the facility had nearly 60 belugas, the most of any such facility in the world, and ran a successful breeding operation before Canada enacted a law banning cetaceans in captivity in 2019. Image by rdoroshenko via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).<\/i><\/p>\n

What you can do<\/h2>\n

Protect wildlife by making a monthly donation as little as $5.<\/em><\/p>\n