Marineland Charged with Using Dolphins & Whales For Entertainment

​toronto.citynews.ca/2021/12/13/marineland-criminal-charges/

Marineland is facing criminal charges after a tip led police to the park in October of 2020. The park is being charged with utilizing dolphins and whales for entertainment purposes, a practice that was banned by the federal government in 2019. The park adamantly denies the charges and claims that the complaint stems from an "educational presentation" that is not against the law and will be in court to fight the charges in February of next year.

Marineland largely escaped the bad publicity Seaworld experienced despite operating with cetaceans in an almost identical manner. In 2019, the government of Canada banned the NEW captivity of cetaceans and also banned using them for entertainment. Park's like Marineland were allowed to keep their cetaceans under the pretense that they would no longer perform and no new cetaceans would be added. What constitutes as "entertainment" versus "education" when it comes to captive dolphins & whales? That's where the grey area surrounding the government's cetacean laws get confusing to me. We're banning captivity but allowing those in captivity to remain? It's very hypocritical and sends out a confusing message regarding the welfare of cetaceans.

When you read the story, Marineland comes off as a child who got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Nothing but excuses for every single problem that has been brought to light including poorly maintained water filtration for their cetaceans, unexplained whale deaths, and now the use of cetaceans in performances. In almost every case, they're trying to explain their way out of a bad situation and perhaps until now, they've been able to do so. Only time will tell whether they will be found guilty, but there's a much bigger picture here in my opinion; why didn't we just ban ALL captivity as opposed to allowing these places to hold on to the cetaceans they already had? Isn't this kind of sending out the wrong message about whether we truly care about cetaceans in captivity?

The fact is, these dolphins / whales should have been released / sent to sanctuaries immediately as the law to ban their captivity came in to effect. We wouldn't be in the position of trying to hold Marineland accountable had they already sent their cetaceans to sanctuaries / freedom. Marineland can argue until they're blue in the face about how well their animals are treated but the fact is, dolphins and whales in the wild have the entire ocean to swim through as opposed to the concrete bathtubs they are forced to live in while captive. That's cruel in itself, regardless of how they're treated or whether they're being used for education / entertainment. They don't belong there and children should be learning about them through educational videos / books; not by watching them swim in bathtubs in person. It's wrong.

Marineland will likely fight the charges and be let off. The fact is, our laws are confusing to say the least and don't properly address cetacean captivity. The only solution to these problems is to remove the grandfather clause and force these parks to release their animals in favour of electronic educational videos / performances. It's 2021, we don't need some of the smartest creatures on our planet confined to concrete prisons for educational purposes. 

​I'll update this story once more information becomes available.

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