LCA's Undercover Investigation Reveals Disturbingly Inadequate Care of Belugas at Marineland Canada
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Last Chance for Animals (LCA)
January 2016

Sign the petition: Support a Ban on Whale Captivity in Canada!!‏
Contact Senator Wilfred Moore to thank him: [email protected]

Canadian Senator Wilfred Moore's bill S-203a, re-introduced in December 2015, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, would prevent this tragedy from being inflicted upon future whales by banning their capture, confinement, breeding and sale.

LCA conducted a five-month undercover investigation into Marineland Canada during the summer and fall of 2015, with a primary focus on the park’s beluga whale population. The majority of the park’s 46 belugas are confined to just three main pools with no breeding program in place to regulate births, allowing Marineland’s population of belugas to continue to grow at an alarming and irresponsible rate.

The investigation uncovered disturbing inadequacies in the care of the whales, seen in this video..

LCA’s investigation reveals:

• A juvenile beluga named Gia, who was accidentally separated from her mother then left in a shallow isolation pool for three months where she became emaciated
• Belugas, including newborn calves, covered in “rake marks,” visible scarring from being attacked and bitten by dominant whales while in a confined pool
  Belugas exhibiting signs of eye abnormalities, such as redness, irritation, and cataracts, and in some cases, young belugas appearing to develop cataracts prematurely
• Belugas suffering for months from an undiagnosed condition reported by employees to park management as “genital rubbing” which caused the whales to rub themselves constantly against the concrete pool floor until blood was visible in the water.
• Routine deprivation of food for training purposes
• More than 100 barrels of industrial strength bleach kept on site, and employees repeatedly complaining of burning eyes and a strong chlorine smell on certain days when next to the pools
• KiKiska, Marineland’s lone orca, constantly swimming in circles in the smaller of her two pools

After completing the investigation, LCA submitted a complaint to the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals alleging violations of the OSPCA Act. The complaint details Marineland's care of whales that falls below prescribed standards in medical treatment, food, protection from elements, water quality and psychological well being.

Canadian Senator Wilfred Moore's bill S-203a, re-introduced in December 2015, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, would prevent this tragedy from being inflicted upon future whales by banning their capture, confinement, breeding and sale.

Speak up for the animals! CLICK HERE to sign LCA's petition - Support a Ban on Whale Captivity in Canada!‏ - and show Senator Moore your support for S-203!

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