WATCH | Marineland export permits denied:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1759802107_703_default.jpg\")
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Marineland\u2019s request to export belugas to China denied by feds<\/p>\n
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has denied Marineland Canada’s request to export its 30 remaining beluga whales to the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom theme park in China. The decision is aligned with regulations to protect marine mammals from exploitation.<\/p>\n
The letter came days after Thompson denied Marineland’s request for export permits. It was aiming to send the belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, a theme park in China.<\/p>\n
“The gravity of the funding crisis at Marineland cannot be overstated; any further delay jeopardizes the welfare and security of the whales, and we fear we are running out of time to act,” the company’s letter said.<\/p>\n
Marineland said a decision to euthanize\u00a0the whales, which were born in captivity, will be “a direct consequence of the minister’s decision” to withhold export permits.<\/p>\n
Marineland’s funding request ‘inappropriate,’ minister says<\/p>\n
CBC\u00a0News\u00a0reached out to\u00a0the premier’s office for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Monday, however, Thompson, speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park in Toronto, said that for\u00a0Marineland to immediately respond to not being granted export permits with a\u00a0request for federal funding\u00a0is “inappropriate.”<\/p>\n
Thompson reiterated that Ottawa’s decision last week\u00a0to deny the export request\u00a0was based on the 2019 strengthening of both the Fisheries Act and Criminal Code, which is intended to not allow for further exploitation of the animals.<\/p>\n
Thompson\u00a0said Marineland is responsible for the care of the belugas\u00a0and the province plays a role in ensuring\u00a0the animals are well maintained. The minister also said she’ll be speaking with Marineland later Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nineteen belugas\u00a0have died at Marineland since 2019<\/a>. The last\u00a0orca, Kiska, died in 2023.<\/p>\n This year marked the first time in\u00a0Marineland’s 60-year history, outside of COVID-19 closures, that it didn’t open, raising concerns about the future of the belugas and other animals remaining at the park.<\/p>\n Ryan said her animal advocacy organization has been calling for years for Marineland, and the Ontario and federal governments to bring together experts and stakeholders to talk about the best plan for the animals.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ryan is calling on Ottawa and Ontario to work\u00a0with the Nova Scotia government as part of efforts to help build a whale sanctuary\u00a0on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore. Plans for the project, however, appear to have stalled<\/a>, although the website for the Whale Sanctuary Project <\/a>is being\u00a0updated with news of the Marineland belugas.<\/p>\n Another option, said Ryan, would be for Ontario to seize the belugas now under the PAWS Act and care for\u00a0the\u00a0animals.<\/p>\n “But it’s important to note that wouldn’t keep Marineland financially off the hook. We must hold them financially accountable for the care of those animals under all legal possible options.”<\/p>\n ‘All of the options need to be looked at’<\/p>\n Angela Fernandez, a professor in the University of Toronto’s faculty of law, said she finds Marineland’s ultimatum and threat of possibly having\u00a0the animals euthanized to be “quite shocking.”<\/p>\n “That is a very, very false dichotomy and it’s quite shocking, really, that they’re going there,” Fernandez told CBC News.<\/p>\n Fernandez also said Premier Doug Ford needs to intervene and seize the animals in the park, “Even if it’s just seizing them in place for the moment until a good plan can be worked out as to what to do with them.<\/p>\n “That would involve zoos and aquariums close by who could maybe take them, sanctuary options that might be available \u2014 all of the options need to be looked at but we need time to do that, especially because there’s so many parties involved.<\/p>\n “So, having a, ‘You got to do it by Tuesday otherwise, we’re going to kill the animals,’ I mean this is kind of nuts,” added Fernandez.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fernandez believes Marlineland’s threat to euthanize the animals could be grounds for the authorities “to go and seize them because they need to be protected.”<\/p>\n Export denial likened to ‘death sentence’<\/p>\n Andrew Trites, a professor in the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, said\u00a0Ottawa\u00a0denying Marineland’s request for export permits was like “a death sentence for those animals.”<\/p>\n “I think the federal government has given Marineland no options. If the animals can’t leave the country, now what? They obviously can’t keep feeding them and caring for them \u2014 their money has or is running out.<\/p>\n “They have asked, I think, very reasonably to see them moved to another facility that can provide the care that they deserve and require. The government has said no, and now we’re all left with now what? What are the options that they’ve been given? And so far, they’ve given no options.\u00a0<\/p>\n “So, I really feel for the belugas. I really wonder if we’re thinking of them and giving them the best chance and what is in their best interest,” Trites\u00a0added.<\/p>\n Trites said while he agrees with\u00a0Thompson\u00a0that the animals should no longer be used for entertainment,\u00a0given the threats Canada’s belugas currently face, permission could have been given for them to be exported for research purposes.<\/p>\n “I think that we want to ensure that there’s something coming back to Canada too. We can build linkages and those animals can help,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Further, the understanding and conservation of the wild animals living in the St. Lawrence, living in the Canadian Arctic, animals which the Indigenous people depend upon, we have a huge opportunity here so that everyone comes out ahead instead of just seeing this as a funeral.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Animal rights advocates are condemning Marineland’s threat to euthanize the 30 surviving belugas at the defunct\u00a0amusement park in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-206029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"marineland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1759802108_124_belugas-marineland.JPG\")
The drone footage captured Marineland staff interacting with the belugas. Marineland is looking for federal funding after Ottawa turned down its request for permits to export the whales. (Patrick Morrell\/CBC )<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1759802108_791_ont-marineland-20250219.JPG\")
A beluga whale swims in a tank at Marineland in June 2023. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n