The last blog I covered the first half of my first investigation of one of the world’s worst aquariums. Actually a list was recently released and Marineland was number 2, behind Miami Seaquarium. I personally think it should be number 1, but I have never been to Miami Seaquarium. I know it’s a horrible place as well. Look up Lolita and her story. It’s as heartbreaking as Kiska’s. It’s time to move on and take a look at the remainder of my time at Marineland.
After we left the deer pavilion, we were still in shock for a long time about what we witnessed. It’s not every day you dodge deer blood flying around because they are doing something akin to self-mutilation. We headed to the bears. Now my memories of the bears were always horrible. Bears are suppose to be these big scary, aggressive predators, but at Marineland they are demoralized and weak. They sit in filthy water, their paddock reaking of feces, and they beg people for stale ice cream cones, which they can purchase at a little hut at the entrance to the bear area. Looking down at the bears sitting at the water’s edge or in the water, looking up at the people, begging for food, was pathetic. Sad and pathetic.
It wasn’t until I got home and looked at my photos that I saw the sadness in the bears eyes. I have teddy bears from when I was a baby with eyes less sad looking.
As an animal lover, I have an unexplained passion for orcas and know the most about them. It doesn’t mean that I don’t look at the pictures of the deer and the bears and feel less. I don’t. I look at these pictures of these bears and my heart is in pain for them. This is no way to treat an animal.
This one photo that my friend took, says it all. Such a very powerful photo, and I wanted to make sure I shared it.
After we left the bears, we headed over to Arctic Cove. This is where the Beluga whales are suppose to be housed. Instead, they are actually stashed all over the park because there are way too many. At Friendship Cove they were really active, but I accounted approximately eight in the one pool. Give or take. As we approached Arctic Cove, it was public feeding time. This when guest, usually children, pay extra to get up close and personal with a beluga whale by feeding him or her and getting to rub their melons.
I decided to start counting. I got to twenty beluga whales and decided that number had to be wrong, so I played dumb with the one worker and flat out asked her, and sure enough, she said there were twenty beluga whales in this ONE pool. I managed to keep calm and said, “Oh, that’s what I thought but it looked like more.” Or something stupid. It’s really hard to play dumb with people who are clearly not as intelligent as you are.
My friend and I looked over and saw a man with another beluga whale, and we turned to look but the worker I had asked the dumb question to, asked if we would wait until he was finished feeding that particular beluga whale, as apparently the whale gets nervous. We obliged. Plus we didn’t want to look too eager to see this “nervous” beluga whale. We didn’t get a picture or even a chance to assess this whale. It may have been a missed opportunity, but one necessary for us to keep our cover.
We continued to observe the public feeding of the beluga’s. It’s great to see children smile and see these animals up close, I only wish it was in a different type of environment. I by no means, recommend anyone to partake in this type of interaction. There are just so many things that can go wrong. Beluga’s may not necessarily be aggressive by nature, but a trainer in the show pool was bit and attacked last year. Dolphins at Sea World, have been known to bite park visitors while doing a similar activity. It’s just not safe for your children to be this close.
My friend also noticed, that they were using Kiska’s pail to feed the one Beluga. As you can see in the above photo.
We then headed to the underground viewing area. Again, there was a lot of leaks and pooling of water. Plus evidence of mold.
Also present, was filthy water, with dirt and fecal matter, both in the main tank where there were 20 beluga’s, and then in the other tank that was being used as a nursery (and much much smaller than the first tank).
In the viewing area, which was being used as the nursery, they had crammed in 5 females, and 4 babies. One female was pregnant. My concern was the dirt and fecal matter at the bottom of the tank, as well as the fact that they were all just crammed into a rather small tank.
I actually found this rather sad. There wasn’t really any place for a mother and her calf to get away from the others. And it was my friend who managed to get the better pictures of a calf who was banged up. We both noticed it, but couldn’t say a thing to each other as an employee was working observation right next to us.
It was unbelievable the amount of Beluga whales were stashed throughout this park. God knows if any were packed inside the infamous Barn. The barn is a dank, and indoor space where the animals are kept that aren’t being used, or where they go in the off season. There is no natural light, and often are subjected to fumes from diesel run equipment. It’s a concrete hell. Whether or not there were beluga’s inside the Barn, I counted approximately 40 Beluga whales inside Marineland. They just keep breeding these whales. Chances are some might even be inbred. Recently I spotted a beluga whale in one of my friend’s photos and was concerned about the shape of it’s melon. I have sent off inquiries about it but as of this time, have yet to hear back from any beluga researchers. We have our suspicions that it might likely be inbreeding, if anything at all. When you have 40 beluga whales, it’s going to be impossible to prevent inbreeding.
It’s just ridiculous that there are so many of one species in one place. My theory is, ever since the Toronto Star article came out two summers ago, that Marineland’s reputation is mud now. They can’t sell their beluga’s. Instead, they are overloaded.
In that number of 40, two of them were in living in the show pool, in King Waldorf’s Stadium.
Two belugas, live in the right hand side pool. Five bottlenosed dolphins live in the small left hand side pool.
The so-called show wasn’t much of a show. The MC at the beginning basically mocked the wild animals by talking about the ocean in which they were from. Playing their vocals, to “educate” the public. Granted, the vocalizations of the animals, were the only thing educating about this entire 25 minute show. The California sea lions came out and did the usual comedy routine. The dolphins then came out to do some of the high spots. Earlier, I had spotted the one dolphin who I wasn’t sure if there was skin irritations on or not. We were on an angle and up a bit too high and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get a decent photo. At first glance, it looked like a pox virus, but I can’t be sure at all. It very well could have just been the angle and glares of the dolphin’s wet skin. I hope it was nothing. However what we cannot deny are the massive rake marks on Echo’s body.
Marineland’s one universal criticism is that the park is highly dated. Nothing says more high-tech then using a store regulated, yellow-braided rope to open and close your rusty gates…
There really wasn’t much value in the show. We really only had one reason to be there. The walrus. The end of the show finale, done by one of the park’s five walrus. My friend had already seen three out of the five; Apollo, Sonja and Buttercup. We were hoping for Smooshi or Zeus. Smooshi is quite famous. She’s a central part of former trainer and whistle-blower, Phil Demers. He had a special relationship with Smooshi who had a series of problems. He’s constantly asking for people to send him photos if they see her in shows. Sadly, she’s rarely used. It might be because of Phil, and it might be because she isn’t well. Whatever the reason is, we are all really worried about her. We would still have to wait to see either Smooshi or Zeus. We were treated to Apollo. He’s a big boy. I’m concerned about the redness in his eyes. It’s a suggestion that water quality is to be called into question.
It’s a mystery to us as to why the Sea Lions and Walrus’, as well as dolphins are not on public display in between shows.
Speaking of sketchy water conditions. I wasn’t prepared for the last and final spot on our tour. An indoor aquarium, where Marineland uses a former smaller show pool to house their seals. The moment you approached the door to this indoor facility, you are assaulted by the chlorine smell. It was then that I remember smelling it outside of the park, standing on the other side of the Aquarium wall, while I was waiting for my friend to arrive. It’s no wonder, because that place was over-chlorinated. Nothing was more explanatory than seeing the animals who were forced to live in the pool. All of them, had their eyes shut as tight as possible.
Even when they did open them above the water, some closed them immediately. Aside from seeing Kiska, this was probably one of the most heartbreaking places I had to endure. Inside the aquarium, there was no natural light. There was nothing to enrich the seals or keep them occupied. Just an empty over-chlorinated pool of water.
Also that caught my attention was the barred-door left open, I couldn’t help but bend down to quickly snap a photo of what was inside. Dry dock. it looked like a small platform for the seals to get on when they were tired of swimming. I’m not really sure, to be honest. It looked just as dingy as the rest of the place we were standing in. Not to mention the rusty concrete walls (to your right).
One would think with the amount of chlorine we were ingesting, you would expect the water to be clear. Well, you would be wrong. Not only was it not clear, it was disgusting.
The photo was of the same area, as the top one that my friend took. Actually both are her photos. My other concern was the filter at the bottom of the pool. One I really couldn’t get a decent photo of because of how dirty the water was. I could tell that there was enough room through the grate that could cause harm to a seal. I had once read that a sea lion died when it got its flipper caught in the filter because there wasn’t a small enough grate to prevent it. I’m a bit concerned over that.
That is the end of this experience. One that I would deem as one of the worst experiences of my life. On an investigators stand-point, it was sadly successful, as we were able to obtain evidence. However, it was bitter sweet. You never go to investigate a place in hopes of finding problems, you go hoping that you don’t. For the animals sake.
Marineland needs to be shut down. The problem isn’t that it’s still running after decades, the problem is the government. Ontario and Canadian government has nothing to do with zoo and aquarium regulations. There is nothing to protect captive animals, and even less rights to captive cetaceans (whales & dolphins) and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions & walrus). One of the things we can do, it spread the word about how awful places like (and especially) Marineland is. The day is getting closer when aquariums and sea prisons, like Marineland, are not needed. People will stop going because people like myself has spread awareness. We’ve put a lot of our beliefs aside, to go in to gather this information for you.
I did not for one moment, enjoy my time at Marineland. I did NOT go in to the park for enjoyment. I went in there, to get information and visual proof of how horrific this place really is. I am getting criticized for going, but sometimes you have to enter the den of the devil in order to bring him down. I do NOT recommend that every anti-captivity person, or pro-captivity person or indifferent captivity person to visit or do their own investigation. It sucked to be there. I will carry that guilt with me, but I did raise awareness to this place. I’m asking and begging you all, not to go and buy a ticket to Marineland, or any other place alike.
As a protester, anti-captivity advocate, and someone who loves orcas so much, it made me physically sick to be inside this place. I did it for Kiska. My friend, does this for Kiska. If someone doesn’t keep an eye on her, or didn’t go in to investigate, then those photos at the beginning of my blog, of her teeth and blow-hole, would never have made it on to the News. Because of those photos that my friend from Ontario Captive Animal Watch managed to take, Kiska’s story is making a global splash. We are Team Kiska, and that means we want her released to a sea pen to live out her remaining days in the ocean where she was kidnapped, or we would even settle for her to be moved to Sea World. She hasn’t used her vocals in nearly three years. She hasn’t even heard another orca in three years. She has given up. She is a shell of herself now. Living out her days, waiting for the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4Y5WHbPxu4#
This October, Marineland will close for the next seven months before re-opening in May of 2015. For Team Kiska, it will be a long seven months, not knowing if she’s alright. If she’s alive or dead. We won’t know anything until opening day. Not knowing whether she’s alive or not, is going to be one of the most painful things we will ever have to endure. Doesn’t mean we will be silent for her. It’s actually time to push forward.
Check out Ontario Captive Animal Watch (OCAW) on Facebook, and learn about what they’re all about. Also check out Fins and Flukes. If you want to help spread the word about Kiska, you have 11-days to help raise money for Mike Garrett’s legal campaign against Marineland, by purchasing a “Free Kiska” t-shirt, http://teespring.com/FreeKiska . Check out his campaign at For donations via GoFundMe please visit: www.mikegarrett.ca or through pay-pal: mikegarrettdefensefund@gmail.com. Also check out http://www.marinelandindepth.com/ for more information. To help former trainer and Marineland whistle-blower, Phil Demers, you can check out savesmooshi.org.
Without people like Mike Garrett, Phil Demers, the wonderful people from Ontario Captive Animal Watch, Fins & Fluke, and Orca United, we wouldn’t be where we are now. We are so close to getting the world aware of the problems with whale and dolphin captivity. So a huge THANK-YOU to them.
