“It’s heartbreaking to see,” says Kristy Burgess, a former Marineland beluga trainer.
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“Concrete is breaking off from the tanks because they’re falling apart and not being repaired. The whales are curious and so they pick it up and swim around with chunks in their mouth.”
Canada’s Marineland, an aquarium and amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, closed its doors to the public in the summer – but inside the park, 30 captive beluga whales remain in concrete tanks.
A federal law passed in 2019 bans the sale, breeding and captivity of whales.
The effect of the ban means that while Marineland’s existing cetacean population can remain at the park, no new whales can be acquired.
Canada’s government refused a request by Marineland to export its remaining belugas to China over concerns that the animals could face further mistreatment.
Marineland has threatened to euthanise the belugas if the Canadian federal government does not provide financial support.
The Guardian’s Leyland Cecco, who has reported extensively on Marineland for the Guardian’s Seascape series, explains the story of how the whales got caught in the middle of a bigger fight over their future.
In total, 19 belugas have died at the park since 2019 – for the full article about the fate of the park’s beluga whales tap the link ► https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/26/canada-captive-beluga-whales
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