Save Whales Reportedly Dying and in Distress at Theme Park

Target: Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario Canada

Goal: Shut down Marineland Ontario and move its animals to a proper sanctuary.

Fifteen beluga whales have reportedly died at Marineland Canada in the past two years. The theme park has been accused of neglecting these majestic creatures and they have not yet provided answers about how or why the deaths occurred.

Former Marineland trainer-turned-whistleblower Phil Demers shared a video of the captive whales on his Twitter account. He also asked for answers about the missing whales. Until 2019, sites like Marineland and other aquatic parks were allowed to breed their captive cetaceans in order to create a continuous supply of new imprisoned tourist attractions. As local organization Ontario Captive Animal Watch pointed out, such breeding operations helped to cover up Marineland’s reportedly high numbers of whale deaths by replacing deceased belugas with infant ones so that on paper, the numbers seem to always stay around the same.

The Canadian Animal Welfare Services (CAWS) have seemingly known for a while that Marineland is not treating its animals appropriately. This last summer, inspectors determined that the park’s water quality was so bad, it sent marine mammals held there into “distress.” Marineland responded that “an unknown number of whale deaths at the park were not related to the water issues.” Whether it’s Marineland’s apparently inadequately repaired water systems that are killing the belugas or general captivity, one thing is clear: Marineland is seemingly killing marine animals.

This park is apparently not fit to continue caring for these creatures anymore. The government must shut down Marineland now and send its remaining animals to a reputable sanctuary.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Premier Ford,

The Ontario location of Marineland has apparently had 15 whales die over the past two years of mysterious circumstances. While the faculty says that these deaths were unrelated to water issues, inspectors at the park reportedly deemed that the water quality was so bad that it sent the animals held there into distress. It is difficult to tell how many cetaceans are dying because of the legal breeding that seemingly covers up beluga deaths with infants. Marineland does not appear to be treating its animals appropriately. As a former employee-turned-whistleblower has shown in videos posted to Twitter, they are reportedly held in insufficient tanks with poor quality water. Please, shut down Marineland and move its remaining animals to a sanctuary that can care for them.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Lars Plougmann