2022 is quickly approaching, the tides are shifting, the public’s opinion of Marineland, and cetacean’s in pools in general, has changed.
Recently, there has been a lot of press coverage about Marineland. Headlines have included titles like “Orca in solitary confinement is bashing her head into her tank”, “The park is closing forever” and “Marineland has been charged with animal cruelty” to name just a few. The only one that we know to be 100% factual and certain is the latter, but I’m not writing this post to argue about whether Kiska is bashing her head or not. This post is simply my musings about the future, and by no means should my words be taken as fact or prediction. I have no “inside” information or connection to the park, and as such, what I write is my opinion and nothing more.
So, speaking of my opinion… it is largely that things have been bad at Marineland for a lot longer than it’s been talked about. The headlines that are surprising people now, are nothing that activists have not been aware of for years, decades, even. In my opinion, things did not get bad at Marineland recently, they have been bad the entire time the park has existed – since the very beginning. From the earliest days, when the park closed for the summer season and became a game farm where instead of viewing the animals, you could shoot them… to the six dolphins who reside there now, who lack import papers or any documentation to say where they came from. The park has a long history of secrecy and questionable practices. There is a lot that we know and so much more that we don’t, may not ever, know. It’s only now that more people seem to be becoming aware of exactly what makes things so miserable and just how dire the situation is becoming.
While there is very much we can not be sure of, there are some things that we can confidently state in regards to the park. Marineland is home to the largest collection of captive Beluga whales in the entire world. Approximately 40 Beluga whales live at Marineland as of 2021, but I would not call that number concrete by any means due to the rapidly fluctuating population numbers that we have seen over the years. In 2019, there were 57 Beluga Whales at Marineland. In 2021, there are 40. Simple arithmetic here says that there are 17 whales missing, with five having been relocated to Connecticut, there are still twelve unaccounted for. What happened to those twelve? While zoos are certainly not held accountable to reporting animal deaths, if Marineland had announced not only those twelve whale deaths, but the hundreds, easily thousands (the the deer park) of deaths of not only whales, but dolphins, walruses, sea lions, seals and land mammals over the years… would ‘we’ (being the general public) have seen the truth sooner?
When we really dig deeper though, we can see that even though the deaths were not announced, they were not hidden, either. Anyone can count the number of whales in a tank and see that these numbers have changed. It’s not a secret that there were once other orcas at Marineland, the commercials showed it, did anyone else wonder where they went or what happened to them? But that’s again, another topic, for another time, let’s get back to what we do know.
There is just one orca, her name is Kiska, and she is alone. She has been alone since 2011, and there is little opportunity to find an orca companion for her, outside of moving her to a park such as SeaWorld. SeaWorld has sent their orcas to Marineland before, Ikaika was in fact Kiska’s last companion, but based on how this fared, I would say it would be unlikely that SeaWorld would decide to send another of it’s whales to Marineland. In the case of Lolita at the Miami Seaquarium who also lacks an Orca companion, she shares her tank with several dolphins, so while she is not alone, the track record of the relationship between Lolita and the dolphins is checkered at best. Perhaps Marineland has tried to place dolphins with Kiska, but it has never been documented to my knowledge. Although Marineland has no shortage of Beluga whales, these would also not make suitable companions for Kiska. Not only should they be living in much different temperature waters (Marineland does not provide suitable water temperatures for either specie, but that is another topic for another time) but in the wild, Orca’s would predate Beluga’s if given the opportunity.
While it’s easy to pinpoint that Kiska being alone is inherently a problem, with orcas being such wildly social and emotionally complex animals, it’s harder to find a solution for it. Right now, there is no sanctuary ready for Kiska to retire to. Fortunately, there is a sanctuary being developed in Nova Scotia, with a hopeful date of 2023, but important to note, that this has been more than a decade in the making and as of now, there are no actual agreements from parks to retire their whales here. As of now, there are no nets in the water and now reports that the water could be contaminated by mining spillage have not provided good press for something that already felt a little precarious to me. I wish only the best for the Whale Sanctuary, but it has been in the works for a long time and is still a long way from done. I hope more than anything it comes to life. But even then… even if they build it, the whales still have to come, and that decision can only be made by the people that own the whales.
So what does that mean for Kiska, right now?
The best we can do, without bringing in a companion, is improve her living conditions until the sanctuary is ready. And hope that when it is ready, the owner of Marineland and Kiska, will make the choice that is best for her. Kiska’s future is entirely in the hands of the owners of Marineland. For a long time, that fate has been sealed by one owner and one family. Jon Holer, the owner and founder of Marineland, died in 2018 but his family resumed ownership and leadership of the park with the help of outside management/leaders. The family, however, not only Jon’s elderly wife but his extended family, do not share the same dream and vision that he had for the park. First rumoured quietly in online chatter, news that the park was for sale, was seemingly cemented by signs seen in the park later in the 2021 season that mentioned something along the lines of; x “Some of the biggest names in the industry” were eyeing the chance to re-imagine the future of Marineland.
Without actually naming names or speculating who might purchase the park, we can still speculate the possible outcomes. Animals aside, Marineland sits on a very large piece of land (hundreds of acres) that is largely undeveloped. The potential is practically endless. Although some of the theming is outdated and out of place, some of it is timeless, and undeniable that the stone castles could be reimagined in a different way that sparked wonder. Marineland recently invested in a large new ride, and although it did not run this season, it would certainly be seen as an asset to a buyer who wanted to continue with the land as an amusement park. But, this post is not about roller coasters, it’s about whales, so let’s get back to that.
What would happen to the animals? It’s the question that no one really has the answer to. If the park was potentially purchased by a buyer that owned other parks with animals, potentially, the animals could be relocated. Canada has forbidden the sale of the animals, so fortunately, a mass sell-off to China or another place where the industry is stronger, is unlikely.
My hope, and I could confidently state the hope of most activists and supporters of whales (but not in captivity) would be that the whales could retired to a seaside sanctuary. Perhaps a buyer would have the heart to send them to the sanctuary in Nova Scotia, and perhaps they could have the capital to take it a step further, and imagine their own sanctuary, that I am sure that experts would be happy to help advise on for the sake of the whales.
Maybe some whales retire and some stay behind, in improved facilities. There are many possibilities that could come from the park being bought by another theme park. If the park stayed open in some regard in this way, revenue could be generated to continue to care and support the animals while reimagining a better future. I understand that nothing can change over night but my hope is that the right buyer will make the right choices, and I can be patient if we are moving in the right direction.
On the other hand, we can consider the possibility that a certain activist has painted into the news, that Marineland will not re-open. But then what happens to the animals? In some ways, the park being open means that the animals have constant eyes on them. It’s no secret that things are done differently when the park closes in winter time and animals are away from public view. Without expanding on that, I worry about a future where Marineland does not open and no one knows what is happening behind closed gates. Simply put, the whales have nowhere to go, and if no one can go in, money can also not be generated to care for and feed the whales. A single beluga can eat 200 pounds of fish in a week – multiply that by a population of 40 belugas and that is a lot of fish. If indeed the land was bought be developers and repurposed as real estate land, what happens to the whales then, are they simply warehoused until a solution is found, are they euthanized? I certainly can not answer that and at this point, I don’t think anyone can.
Ultimately, no one knows what is happening at Marineland, except the people very closest to Marineland, whether the official ownership papers have already changed hands, I’m not sure. I’ve heard yes and I’ve heard no. For now, I’m just going to wait and see what the future holds for Marineland and hope for the best. I do feel that things are more positive now than ever, when public opinion has shifted so strongly to support the fact that these animals do not belong in captivity and parks like Marineland are a thing of the past. 2022 is looking to be a very interesting year.
For The Whales 