Ontario Premier Doug Ford is suggesting that the fate of 30 beluga whales being kept in captivity at Marineland in Niagara Falls is now in the “hands” of the federal government after it denied a request to send the animals to a facility in China.
Ford made the comment during a media availability at Queen’s Park on Wednesday morning, hours after Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson issued a statement confirming that she would not grant an export permit to ship the whales to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom aquarium.
In her statement, Thompson said that shipping the mammals to the aquarium would have meant “a continued life in captivity and a return to public entertainment.”
Refusing Marineland’s request, she said, was consistent with a 2019 law that banned keeping whales and dolphins in captivity in Canada.
Asked about the decision, Ford said that he was “disappointed,” adding “if we want these whales to survive we have to move them somewhere.”
“We need the federal government to sign off on it or these whales, they are on their hands, because we want to help move them,” he said.
The Canadian Press previously reported that 20 whales –one killer whale and 19 belugas – died at Marineland since 2019, with the most recent death taking place in August.
Ford said that the situation at Marineland is “terrible” with the remaining whales crammed into a facility that is only about one acre in size.
He said that while provincial inspectors are regularly visiting Marineland, the whales need a “proper home.”
“What we can do is not just going to China, we can look at other areas that will take these whales. We don’t have to move all 30 in one shot. A couple here, a couple there,” he said.
“We want them to survive and if they don’t then well the federal government has to answer on that one.”