Beluga whales, dolphins at Marineland to be relocated by late July

Niagara Falls, Ontario (WBEN) - Some good news has come for 30 beluga whales and four dolphins that are still living at the former Marineland theme park across the border in Niagara Falls.

According to Phil Demers, director at Urgent Seas - a Toronto-based nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting oceans and marine life - the remaining beluga whales and dolphins at the defunct park will be removed and relocated before July 25.

"The export permits to relocate the animals have been approved by the Canadian government. It appears as though the bulk of the beluga whales will be headed to multiple facilities in the U.S., as well as Spain, and it appears that's where the dolphins will be going as well. That should mark the end of Marineland," said Demers in an update with WBEN.

This will officially end a saga that began this past October with the park asking the Canadian government for emergency funding to feed and care for its whales. The park said if they couldn't get the funding, euthanasia was an option on the table for the whales and dolphins.

That was when efforts were made to try and relocate the beluga whales and dolphins to other sanctuaries across the globe, knowing that any release into the wild was not an option.

Demers knows of a number of locations the whales and dolphins will now be able to call home come late July.

"There's two Sea Worlds: I believe one is in San Antonio, and then there's another - I'll call it Orlando, but I'm not exactly certain which the other Sea World facility is. Georgia Aquarium will receive a lot, Shedd Aquarium [in Chicago] will be getting some," Demers noted. "Mystic Aquarium [in Connecticut], oddly, will not, which is a little bit surprising to me, but I don't think they've got the space. And then thereafter, it's a question of how many will be going to Spain. But I know they've just had a couple of beluga whales arrive there recently, so it's just a question of space."

A former Marineland whale trainer who left the park in 2012 and now a whistleblower on animal cruelty, Demers is hoping this saga with Marineland can officially be put to bed once the whales and dolphins are relocated from the park.

"My trauma stems from about 15 years ago, so I've been carrying quite a bit for a long time. I don't know what that's going to feel like until it's said and done, but it's certainly one of the priorities in all of my life," Demers admitted. "I look forward to turning the page, and knowing the animals are in far better hands than what they've been."

However, he feels it's important to not forget or gloss over what happened at Marineland and other parks that have been accused of animal cruelty.

"The bottom line is we're amidst the paradigm shift. The people, the public are voting with their dollars. Marineland elected to fight rather than to evolve," Demers said. "Back in 2012, when reports were emerging of just how poorly their animals were treated and the condition that they were living in, Marineland could have made capital investments into improving the park. Instead, they wanted to deny, deny, deny. And unfortunately, with this paradigm shift, everyone's armed with a video camera, everyone's armed with a microphone and able to basically provide evidence on any given day, by any given person. So with that, people could see the truth. Marineland elected to try to lie, and those lies were their demise. So my advice to anyone out there who's busted, in particular if you're harming animals, etc., accept your fate or else it might be very well a lot worse."

Marineland shut down in 2024 after years of allegations of animal abuse.