{"id":67248,"date":"2025-10-08T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/67248\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T14:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:00:11","slug":"canadas-marineland-threatens-to-euthanise-30-beluga-whales-in-row-with-government-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/67248\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada&#8217;s Marineland &#8216;threatens to euthanise 30 beluga whales&#8217; in row with government | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A sea life park has reportedly threatened to euthanise 30 whales unless the Canadian government allows it to send them to China or provides emergency funding.<\/p>\n<p>Marineland, in Niagara Falls, is said to have made the warning in a letter to the country&#8217;s fisheries minister, Joanne Thompson, after its request for a permit to export the belugas was denied.<\/p>\n<p>The minister denied the export licence as she said it was against the fisheries act and she was concerned it would mean them being condemned to &#8220;further exploitation&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All whales belong in the ocean, not in tanks for entertainment purposes,&#8221; Ms Thompson told reporters last week.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/marineland-beluga-whales-euthanize-1.7651009\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CBC<\/a> says it has seen a letter, sent on Friday, in which Marineland pleads that it is in &#8220;a critical financial state&#8221; and can no longer properly care for the whales.<\/p>\n<p>It reportedly warns it can no longer afford to pay for their feeding or care and faces &#8220;the devastating decision of euthanasia&#8221; if the export licence or emergency cash isn&#8217;t provided.<\/p>\n<p>One orca whale and 19 belugas have died at Marineland since 2019, according to a database by The Canadian Press news agency.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/download-app\" target=\"blank\" data-tracking-label=\"ui-app-promo-download-link\" class=\"ui-app-promo sdc-article-widget\" data-type=\"\" data-component-name=\"ui-app-promo\" data-testid=\"app-promo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><\/p>\n<p>    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>The park wants the 30 belugas to go to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai, in China&#8217;s Guangdong province, which it says is the &#8220;only viable option&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>It argues it would be a &#8220;humane relocation to an accredited facility&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario province, has said he is disappointed with the government&#8217;s decision.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We need a proper home for them, simple as that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We gotta save the whales.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-world-podcast-richard-engel_6895914.jpg\" alt=\"Follow The World\" class=\"sdc-article-strapline__image\" data-testid=\"article-strapline-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                Follow The World<\/p>\n<p class=\"sdc-article-strapline__text\" data-testid=\"article-strapline-body\">Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/podfollow.com\/the-world-with-richard-and-yalda\" class=\"sdc-article-strapline__button\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"article-strapline-button\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tap to follow<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Marineland put itself up for sale in 2023 and closed to visitors last summer &#8211; but no buyer has been announced so far for the vast site near the Horseshoe Falls.<\/p>\n<p>Beluga whales live in the Arctic in the wild and are famed for their pale skin and bulbous foreheads.<\/p>\n<p>The World Wildlife Foundation describes them as &#8220;extremely sociable mammals&#8221;, known as &#8220;the canary of the sea&#8221; due to their chirps, clicks, whistles and squeals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sea life park has reportedly threatened to euthanise 30 whales unless the Canadian government allows it to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-67248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}