Marineland remains closed in Niagara Falls, Ont., says it hasn't decided if it will open this year

Samantha Beattie · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 04, 2025 9:04 AM EDT | Last Updated: 15 minutes ago

With the busy summer tourer play successful Niagara Falls, Ont., weeks away, Marineland says it still hasn't decided if it volition unfastened this year. 

The beleaguered aquarium told CBC Hamilton successful an email Tuesday "no last determination has been made." 

"As Marineland has repeatedly publically stated, we proceed to beryllium actively engaged successful a merchantability process and modulation to caller ownership," said the connection from the selling department.

"The semipermanent wellness and payment of the animals remains Marineland's precedence successful the modulation process."

As of Tuesday, its main telephone fig wasn't working, its Facebook leafage was taken down and its website made nary notation of its reopening date.

This clip past year, its reopening day of June 28 was already posted to its website, according to net archives.

Watch | Animal rights activists accidental parkland should adjacent for bully aft 2 belugas die: 

The parkland has traditionally closed for the autumn and winter, and reopened in the spring, but successful caller years scaled backmost operations, said Janet Adams, an employment co-ordinator at the Niagara Employment Help Centre. 

At its height, Marineland would prosecute 500 to 700 seasonal employees, she said. 

But past twelvemonth it hired lone a fewer janitors and cashiers, and called backmost employees from the twelvemonth before, Adams said. 

This year, they haven't posted immoderate summertime positions astatine all, impacting students looking for work, she said. 

18 beluga whale deaths since 2019

Ontario's Animal Welfare Services has been investigating Marineland for 5 years, visiting the parkland much than 200 times since 2020. 

Eighteen beluga whales, 1 slayer whale and 1 dolphin person died astatine Marineland since precocious 2019 — including 1 beluga earlier this year.

The state declared successful 2021 that each marine mammals astatine the parkland were successful distress owed to mediocre water, but told The Canadian Press past twelvemonth the h2o contented had been brought up to standard. 

In 2024, Marineland was found guilty under Ontario's carnal cruelty laws implicit its attraction of 3 young achromatic bears.

The bears lived successful an enclosure that measured 48 quadrate feet and their extracurricular country was 360 quadrate feet, and lacked h2o and climbing structures, a provincial tribunal heard.

However, the bears needed to beryllium successful an enclosure astatine slightest 10,000 quadrate feet, carnal payment inspectors determined. 

Lobbyist moving connected carnal export permits

Last month, Marineland sold 1 of its properties that included an bureau gathering to a numbered corp for implicit $2.7 million, according to onshore records. It's down the roadworthy from the sprawling main park.  

Earlier this year, it got support from the City of Niagara Falls to sever the ample parkland into 4 parcels to instrumentality retired mortgages. 

Tom Richardson, a lawyer who represents Marineland, said astatine a nationalist gathering successful February that it needs the wealth to proceed funding park operations and yet determination its animals, including much than 2 twelve beluga whales, arsenic good arsenic bears and deer. 

"It's to code the elephant successful the room, and that is the moving of the whales and different creatures," helium said.

After the animals are moved, the parkland volition merge the parcels backmost together, alternatively than merchantability them disconnected individually, said Richardson. 

In March, a advisor for Marineland, Andrew Burns, registered arsenic a lobbyist to "communicate with authorities officials" astir obtaining permits to commercialized endangered taxon internationally and export cetaceans, a classification of aquatic mammals that includes whales and dolphins. 

Burns didn't respond to a petition for comment.