Marineland is ready to cut its expanding property so that it can eliminate mortgages to finance park operations and eventually move its animals, including more than two dozen whales of Beluga, said the tourist attraction at a public audience on Tuesday.
The city of the city of Niagara approved Marineland’s application to divide the property after an adjustment hearing committee.
In a summary of justification of planning submitted to the city for the application, Marineland said that he has ensured third -party financing that “requires the owner to withdraw marine animals from expedited property.”
The financing is critical, said Tom Richardson, a lawyer who represents Marineland.
“It is important that this financing is launched for several reasons: maintain property and mammals,” he said at the public meeting.
Eighteen Belugas, a murderous whale and a dolphin died in Marineland since the end of 2019. Marineland sacrificed a seven -year -old Beluga earlier this month after a long battle with several different medical conditions, he said.
Marineland has long defended his animal treatment and says that deaths are part of the natural cycle of life.
In the summer of 2023, a Canadian press reporter and photographer visited Marineland. The staff said there were 37 belugas in the park at that time. Shortly after the visit, Marineland prohibited the reporter for her property.
The provincial government has confirmed that six belugas have died since that visit, and 18 since the end of 2019. It is believed that 31 belugas are still in Marineland, the latest remaining captive whales in Canada.
Animal rights organizations offered to help Marineland relocate animals
The park has not yet sold and the money collects Marineland through the financial one will not go to expand the park or keep the animals there forever, Richardson said.
“It is to go to the elephant in the room, and that is the movement of whales and other creatures,” he said.
After the animals withdraw, Marineland would merge the plots of the Earth, said Richardson. The city implemented a condition that the newly created lots of the park can be mortgaged, but cannot be sold individually.
The neighbors who attended Tuesday’s audience said they were concerned about the future of the park and their impact on their own properties. Richardson and the city assured them that because Marineland has its own special zoning to operate as the theme park, any change will trigger a series of processes, including public consultations.
Richardson said nothing is moving until Marineland receives financing to deal with his animals. Several animal rights organizations at the meeting offered to help relocate them.
The whale sanctuary project, a proposed sea feather for whales and captive dolphins in the Bay of Port Hilford in Nueva Scotia, said he wants to receive the Belugas de Marineland.
“Marineland animals have entertained and contributed to Canada’s economy for more than 50 years, and we believe it is a national priority for us to provide a safe and comfortable retirement for them in a natural environment,” said Lori Marino, president of the sanctuary .
She said they are “prepared” to begin the construction of the sanctuary.
Marineland said in 2021 that the sanctuary would not be suitable for its whales due to the contamination of old mines and tail ponds in the area. The Ballenas Sanctuary project has played those statements.
World Animal Protection would help with “an emergency solution” to move Marineland whales to a sanctuary, said Melissa Matlow campaign director.
Animal Justice pressed the city and Marineland to get more details about where animals would move.
“If they are cutting the land to ensure an operational loan in order to move these animals, then it is absolutely interested in the committee to better understand how that company looks,” said Ben Delanghe, a lawyer from Justice Animal.
Marineland opened for 2 months last year, below its usual 5 months
An American biology professor warned the audience on how to transfer the Belugas to an oceanic sanctuary.
“While we all wait and imagine in our minds that bringing animals as close to the animals that can not acclimate as easily to the ocean as expected,” said Jason Bruck, professor at the State University of Stephen F. Austin and the President of the Marine Mammal Research Network.
He cited his own study by observing the health of two belugas who moved to an oceanic sanctuary in Iceland from a sea park in China.
Bruck said those beluges are stressed and have developed ulcers.
The city welcomed all comments, but said that animal welfare concerns are beyond the scope of the adjustment committee.
Marineland only opened for two months, instead of its usual five -month stretch last year. The tickets were discarded a lot since the trips were out of the limits and many of the animals were out of the limits for the public.
Animal welfare services in the province have visited the park more than 200 times since it launched an ongoing investigation in 2020.
He declared all marine mammals in the park in Apuro in 2021 due to poor water quality and ordered Marineland to solve the problem. Marineland briefly appealed that order before leaving the appeal.
Last November, the main animal welfare inspector of the province gave an interview about the investigation for the first time.
Melanie Milczynski said that the park had not previously fulfilled the standard of water quality, but the water was considered acceptable at the time of the interview after a significant investment by Marineland.
