Marineland , a menagerie and entertainment Mungo Park in Niagara Falls , Canada , has found itself back in the spotlight after the end of five of its beluga hulk in the last year .
The commons is the last seat in Canada where whales are still kept captive , and has seen 17 of its resident belugas dice since 2019 .
This a la mode death has brought questions back up over the welfare of the marine mammals living in the park ’s marine museum ; it ’s not the first time that Marineland has been take hold of up in controversy over animal welfare .
Back in 2020 , the park became the subject of an investigation by Ontario ’s Animal Welfare Services ( AWS ) , which later concluded that the resident marine mammals were in distress as a result of poor water timbre .
The investigating is still on-going , but speaking to theCanadian Press , Melanie Milczynski , Ontario ’s master fauna welfare inspector , said that water quality standards are now being met at the park and are not believed to have been call for in the deaths of the belugas .
Milczynski sum up that Marineland is cognizant of the drive of thebelugas ’ death , but that officials were not at liberty to reveal that info . When the Canadian Press request such point from Marineland , the parking lot did not respond , and said it would “ no longer communicate ” with the outlet .
Some politicians have responded to the word of the latest last by calling forgreater clarityover the inside information of the investigating , while others have called for the park to shut down in its current variant .
“ This constant bicycle of revilement and untimely death needs to stop . 5 beluga deaths in this class [ alone ] is 5 too many , ” Mike Schreiner , drawing card of the Green Party of Ontario , said in aposton societal medium platform X. “ Marineland ’s beast must be relocate to appropriate wildlife and marine sanctuaries , and the park must swivel to a model that does not include animal captivity . Enough is enough . ”
Marineland maintain that the quality of care towards its animals is to standard and say theGuardianthat its staff “ manage for the animate being when they are sick and every effort to save them is made ” . The beluga deaths , it articulate , were natural .
The history of observe belugas in captivity duad as far back as the1860s , when a resilient whale was captured and put on display at the Boston Aquarial Gardens . To this day , it’sestimatedthat over 300 Delphinapterus leucas still stay on in captivity .
