Last Chance for Animals Joins Lawsuit to Stop the Transfer of 5 Beluga Whales from Marineland Canada to Mystic Aquarium
Litigation - Article Series from All-Creatures.org Articles Archive

FROM LCA Last Chance for Animals
February 2021

Last Chance for Animals joins lawsuit with Friends of Animals to stop the transfer of 5 Beluga Whales from Marineland Canada to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.

SIGN HERE: Stop Marineland from exporting belugas whales to the United States!

Beluga

LCA joined a lawsuit launched by Friends of Animals (FoA), an international animal advocacy organization, against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to stop the transfer of five Beluga whales from Marineland in Niagra Falls to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. LCA will be joining the lawsuit as co-plaintiff.

Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut was issued a permit by NMFS to import five Beluga whales from Marineland Canada. The permit is valid until August 31, 2025. Transferring the whales would require a difficult journey of over 10 hours by multiple means of transportation. Further, the transportation of the whales from Marineland to Mystic would create stress, and destroy the social bonds the whales have already formed at Marineland.

Under the five year term of the permit, breeding the Beluga whales is prohibited; however, these restrictions will only last five years. Breeding the Beluga whales in Canada would violate the Criminal Code which criminalizes the breeding of captive cetaceans. Moving the whales to Mystic would take them out of the important, hard-fought protections of Bill S-203 and leave them vulnerable to breeding and thereby perpetuating the cycle of captivity of these majestic creatures. The Canadian government has not announced a decision on whether it will allow Marineland to export the whales.

"Transferring these intelligent and sentient animals from one aquarium to another only benefit the aquariums," said Chris DeRose, President, and Founder of Last Chance for Animals. The best, most humane course of action would be for the whales to have one final transfer to a sanctuary, where they can live out their days free from discomfort, captive breeding, and research."

The suit, entitled Friends of Animals and Last Chance for Animals v. Wilbur Ross and National Marine Fisheries Service was filed at the United States District Court, District of Connecticut. Case file number: No. 3:20-cv-01312-AWT.

Mystic would be purchasing these whales with the Georgia Aquarium. The Georiga Aquarium did not have to complete an application for the permit to be issued.

LCA strongly believes whales should not be kept in captivity and is calling on the governments of both Canada and the United States to prevent this harmful transfer of Beluga whales from Marineland Canada to Mystic Aquarium. LCA believes the transfer would cause undue stress and prolong the suffering of captive whales by allowing breeding at the expiration date of the permit, which will thereby allow the suffering of captive cetaceans to perpetuate. 

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