Marineland slams captivity ban bill
Park would no longer be able to acquire marine mammals
A bill to outlaw keeping whales and dolphins in captivity has been blasted as “bad legislation” by Marineland, after it cleared the Senate late Tuesday.
The long-gestating Bill S-203 aims to amend the Criminal Code to ban the keeping and breeding of marine mammals in captivity. Though it would allow Marineland to keep the estimated 55 cetaceans it currently owns, it would prevent the 57-year-old Niagara Falls venue from obtaining any more.
In a statement forwarded to The Review Thursday, Marineland said the bill “impairs legitimate scientific and research programs, and is explicitly targeted to close Marineland.”
“The bill and debate around it has been highly emotional, lacking in fact-based or science-based analysis and mired in unnecessary conflict incited by radical animal rights groups from the United States.”
Before his death in June, Marineland owner John Holer testified against the bill during a Senate hearing.
He was supported by Conservative Manitoba Sen. Don Plett, who helped prolong the bill though committee meetings for eight months.
After a tour of Marineland, Plett tweeted it was a “beautiful facility with impeccable care standards.”
But activists and animal rights groups across Canada and the U.S. have been hammering Marineland since 2012, when a scathing report in the Toronto Star alleged poor conditions and animal suffering at the park. Marineland subsequently filed a $7-million defamation lawsuit against the paper, which is still before the courts.
In 2005, the province banned the sale and breeding of captive orcas, ensuring Marineland’s Kiska — captured in 1979 — would be Ontario’s last killer whale in captivity.
Media attention on marine mammal captivity was heightened after the 2013 documentary “Blackfish,” which examined the consequences for orcas in captivity by focusing on Seaworld’s Tilikum, who was involved in the deaths of three people.
Former Marineland trainer Phil Demers, also being sued by the park for $1.5 million after speaking out in 2012, says while the bill wouldn’t force the park to close, it prevents “their ability to make unimpeded choices with regards to the animals’ welfare.
Its future as a park hinges on its ability to keep the current marine mammals alive, he says.
“It assures this element of Marineland’s business has a shelf life. Despite the fact that, in my opinion, consumers have already made that decision … they already have an expiry date.”