Marineland Under Scrutiny After Beluga Whale and Dolphin Die

Canada marine park Marineland is under scrutiny after a beluga whale and dolphin died, just two months after the death of an orca at the facility.

The news was announced by the Ministry of the Solicitor General to CTV News Toronto on May 8. The deaths took place at the Niagara Falls location in Ontario but it is not clear when. Their cause of death has not yet been released.

The news comes just two months after an orca named Kiska died at the park. Kiska died on March 9 at the same facility and had been dubbed by animal welfare groups as "the world's loneliest orca."

Like orcas, both dolphins and beluga whales are highly social animals and travel in pods in the wild. The dolphin, named Sonar, lived with four other dolphins at the park. The park is also home to other beluga whales, with at least 35 still living there.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General said that it is continuing to conduct "compliance inspections at Marineland to determine if the standards of care are being met," CTV News reported.

Newsweek reached out to Marineland for comment.

The deaths of the dolphin and the whale have triggered some scrutiny of the park among animal welfare groups.

Rob Lott, an anti-captivity campaigner at Whale and Dolphin Conservation, told Newsweek that "disturbing reports just keep on coming" from Marineland.

"Over the past 25 years, Marineland has imported 10 wild bottlenose dolphins from the Black Sea and 36 wild belugas from the Russian Far East and, with at least 35 belugas currently held in concrete tanks there, it is by far the facility with the most captive belugas on the planet today," Lott said.

"In 2021, the facility also exported five belugas to Mystic Aquarium in the U.S. with two of the five dying soon after transfer with another in critical care. It is time for Marineland's owners to recognize that these socially and behaviourally complex creatures suffer physically, mentally and emotionally in a small, artificial tank devoid of any naturalness.

"Serious, urgent questions must now be asked by the authorities scrutinizing the care of individuals and the conditions at the facility before any further mortality occurs."

Wildlife Campaign Manager at the nonprofit World Animal Protection, Michèle Hamers, told CTV News that the deaths were "deeply disturbing."

"It raises many questions around the state of care and reinforces ongoing concerns around the wellbeing of the rest of the animals at the facility," Hamers said.

World Animal Protection is also asking the government to investigate how the dolphin and beluga died.

The Whale Sanctuary Project said in a tweet that the news was "heartbreaking."

Philip Demers, a former marine mammal trainer at the Marineland facility turned activist, also commented on the news.

Demers, who spoke out against the conditions animals were kept in at the park, said in a tweet: "I always carry around a dark feeling in my stomach. Everything I'd predicted to happen 10+ years ago at MarineLand is happening. Their water system is dangerously dysfunctional and it's killing the whales as it did the walruses. Now the dolphins are dying. This, weeks after Kiska."

Kiska was around 47 years old when she died in March. At the time, local media reported that she died from a bacterial infection.

As with many captive orcas living around the world, animal rights activists campaigned for her release over the course of her life. Many welfare groups claimed that the conditions she was kept in were not adequate.

In a 2015 statement—just after Ontario made it illegal to buy, sell or breed orcas—Marineland said Kiska was healthy and well cared for.

"Kiska's health is monitored daily by experienced staff and professionals. She receives excellent medical care from highly qualified and experienced veterinarians, including expert medical consultants. Kiska receives a healthy diet of high-quality fish and her appetite is healthy, as is her weight...," it said.

Kiska's death marked the end of all captive orcas in Canada, as she was the last remaining one.

In 2019, Canada passed Bill S-203, which bans keeping, breeding and trading in cetaceans for entertainment purposes, meaning there will be no more kept in marine parks in the country.

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