I like to think that I am fairly well educated in all things MarineLand – but occasionally, I come across a tidbit that still manages to surprise me. And maybe I had read it before, and forgot, because admittedly, I’ve noticed that my memory isn’t what it used to be and (that may or may not coincide with the legalization of cannabis…) well, we are all human, we don’t always absorb every single thing that we read. Never the less, I’d like to share with you three interesting facts that I recently discovered in my late night web sleuthing of my least-favourite Canadian attraction. (And a bonus video that I found when trying to find the video associated with one of these facts)
A Journalist Almost Drowned
For full disclosure, I searched again for the YouTube video that I watched in regards to this and my efforts were fruitless. I will keep searching and update this when I find it, but it was too interesting not too share. I believe it happened in the early 80’s, a news reporter from the US came to Niagara Falls to do a story at MarineLand about their orca show. Before leaving, the reporter and his colleagues joked that he should ask to ride the whale, knowing that a stunt like that would never be allowed at their own local SeaWorld park, but maybe Canada was more laid back – his words, not mine. Sure enough, MarineLand said sure, you can ride the whale! Can you imagine that now a days? Water work with orcas already feels like a thing of the past, but you can still watch trainers stand on Belugas heads at Marineland so maybe I should not be too shocked by this.
Anyway, after a brief counsel on what to do, the reporter got into the water with Kanduke, a large bull (male) orca and the “stunt” consisted of Kanduke swimming in a circle, first with Kanduke on his back and the rider laying on his chest holding onto his pectoral fins. After half a circle, Kanduke would roll over and submerge the reporter upside down, still holding onto his fins. On one of the turns, Kanduke missed the cue to roll back over, keeping the reporter under the water for much longer than he expected to be and with no formal training about how to work with orcas, he could only hold on and hope for the best. The trainer asked Kanduke to roll over at the next cue and he seemingly caught the command this time and the reporter was able to swim to safety. I think it’s truly miraculous that it did not end worse than it did and it was all laughed about and chalked up to being “Kanduke was still mastering that trick and was prone to making errors” or something along those lines – as again, I was unable to find the video and half wonder if MarineLand had it taken down.
MarineLand Recently Opened A New Penguin Exhibit – But They Had Penguins Before
When MarineLand announced their new Penguin Palace exhibit in 2019, I was under the impression that Penguins were a new thing for MarineLand. Very little information was provided about the birds that would be featured in the converted Aquarium Dome pool and to this day, only two lines of copy sit on the Penguin Palace section of the MarineLand website. Although the most interesting thing to me about Penguin Palace is the pool that houses it – imagining that something this small once held whales and dolphins is stomach turning. But, that is not the point I am trying to make here.
One of my favourite forms of “MarineLand Research” as I’ll call it very loosely, is perusing old home videos that have been uploaded to YouTube. The majority of videos that have been uploaded are from the 2000’s (when everyone suddenly had a camera in the form of a phone) but the ones I like the most are from the 90’s. Grainy and sometimes broken, sometimes muted, it’s a glimpse into the past, before the aquarium expansions and the belugas. Although certainly not uploaded for the intention of marine mammal activists like myself to examine, I really enjoy watching what these candid moments capture – in this case, footage of the Aquarium attraction which exists within the Aquarium Dome. If you’ve not visited the park, you are probably unaware that MarineLand is home to a collection of large fish tanks. This aquarium complex is located in an interesting building (the Aquarium Dome) – interesting because it is home to the tiny round and barren display pool with underwater viewing area, many simplistic tanks for smaller fish but also an extensively landscaped and beautiful indoor waterfall.
It was in one of these such videos I noticed something that I had not noticed before – an especially extensive tour of the aquarium turned up a penguin exhibit! In the darkness of the Aquarium complex, void of any natural light, a smattering of penguins behind a thick pane of glass. The exhibit is small but there is a lot more detail and realism offered with the rock background that they can climb and hide within, compared to the barren and stark white environment that they live in now, even if it is bigger. If you are curious in seeing what I am referring to, I have included the video at the end of this blog post where the penguins make their mark shortly after the 15 minute mark.
MarineLand’s First Whale
Mainland got it’s first orca in 1971 – but this was not the first whale to live at the park. In 1967, Canada’s first captive Pilot Whale arrived from California, where she had been wild caught and was estimated at two to three years old. She was named Baby Jane and was placed into a 45 foot tank (Only a little larger than some backyard, aboveground swimming pools) – which is almost certainly the same tank that the penguins now reside in. In solitude, in a too small tank and in a dimly lit, dungeon of a building, she began to perish. Pilot Whales are a wildly social species, to the point that when members of their pods beach or strand themselves, the entire pod follows suit. When you hear about those mass strandings of whales, they are almost always Pilot Whales. Incredibly similar in family dynamics to orcas but a species all their own, they never captured the public the same way orcas did and these days they are much less commonly kept. Although I could not find anything to substantiate her death beyond a record stating she died in 1973 on Cetabase, I can predict that she almost certainly succumbed to her reported behaviour of bashing her head into the bars of her prison … enclosure. To imagine what she felt, breaks my heart, born in the ocean with a pod that potentially had a hundred or more family members to love her, she was ripped away and placed in solitary confinement. Rest In Peace, Baby Jane.
Elephants at Marineland
In the early years – the 60’s and 70’s, MarineLand kept a small herd of Elephants. It’s exceedingly difficult to find much information about these animals, how they were kept, how they were used, but, it was a “circus type” performance that took place in the AquaTheatre and later, the King Waldorf Stadium. I was able to find a silent video that includes footage of the elephants – being controlled by what I assume from the posture and gait is John Holer. You can see this in the last video I linked below.
Sources and videos:
http://niagaraanimalrightscenter.blogspot.com/?m=0
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22780357/marineland-canada-pilot-whale-baby/
For The Whales 