Marineland Canada Marineland Canada News

CMZman said:
Looks like the 2024 season ends Sept 1st, that makes me wonder if these are the final days if they're not reopening for 2025 like rumored
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I don’t know if anyone knows the answer, but I assume that a permit to export would have to be filed with the Canadian government if they are going to move any of the marine mammals. Does anyone know for sure? And are those permits applications made public before approval like they are in the US?
 
snowleopard said:
The number of Beluga Whale deaths is incredible. To have 5 whales die in a year and 17 die since 2019 is staggering.
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“3 weeks after…” which was the article on October 9th. So logically, it has only been the 3 passings (Qila, Nahanni and Isis) this year. They’re wording it to imply another passing when it’s probably not the case.

Plus I think it should be great to know that there has been significant investment with even newer water quality systems (there’s 3 main systems between all 5 habitats) , I had also seen they’re hiring more caregivers and vet techs.
 
Aelita said:
“3 weeks after…” which was the article on October 9th. So logically, it has only been the 3 passings (Qila, Nahanni and Isis) this year. They’re wording it to imply another passing when it’s probably not the case.

Plus I think it should be great to know that there has been significant investment with even newer water quality systems (there’s 3 main systems between all 5 habitats) , I had also seen they’re hiring more caregivers and vet techs.
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It would be very interesting to know what the long term plan is for the whales and the park.
 
It appears Marineland is planning to remove all the animals from the park, including the belugas before moving forward with a sale of the property.

Too early to say where they would go, although the article mentions a still unbuilt sanctuary in Nova Scotia.

I'd be curious if any US facility applies for an import permit for some or all of them, but given the chaos across federal agencies, a timeline is completely unknown.

Marineland succeeds in bid to sever property so it can raise money to move animals
 
I wouldn't be surprised if permits were filed to receive some of the healthier individuals, but as stated it's up in the air. I imagine the dolphins will not have a hard time finding homes. Four wild-caught and thus genetically unrepresented females (specifically black sea bottlenose dolphins) would definitely be sought after.
 
US would definitely benefit by taking some belugas, new blood is desperately needed. But there are some problems. First of all, most of the animals are wild caught so getting the import permits will be not easy. In addition, many animals might not be healhty, introducing sick animals in a healthy population might not be a great idea, and getting new aninals that might died with a couple of months would couse bad publicity and criticism. There is also an issue with space, all of the SW, Shedd and georgia are almost overcrowed. Mytic has some space aveilable but I dunno that they´ll be willyng to accept more MLC animals after the death of the three belugas.

Maybe US could accept some healthy individuals, as BlobfishBoy already said, but I can see most of the animals being sent to Asia, specially China.
 
domadordeolas said:
US would definitely benefit by taking some belugas, new blood is desperately needed. But there are some problems. First of all, most of the animals are wild caught so getting the import permits will be not easy. In addition, many animals might not be healhty, introducing sick animals in a healthy population might not be a great idea, and getting new aninals that might died with a couple of months would couse bad publicity and criticism. There is also an issue with space, all of the SW, Shedd and georgia are almost overcrowed. Mytic has some space aveilable but I dunno that they´ll be willyng to accept more MLC animals after the death of the three belugas.

Maybe US could accept some healthy individuals, as BlobfishBoy already said, but I can see most of the animals being sent to Asia, specially China.
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The problem I could see with the belugas going to the US is that due to a law passed several years ago in Canada the whales being exported from the country have to go with an agreement to not breed them. Im not entirely sure how Canada could enforce a breeding ban once the animal is in another country but thats the way the law is set up. That would be a likely deterrent for US zoos and aquariums but probably less so for other countries who might not mind if they tick Canada off by ignoring the agreement.
 
TZFan said:
The problem I could see with the belugas going to the US is that due to a law passed several years ago in Canada the whales being exported from the country have to go with an agreement to not breed them. Im not entirely sure how Canada could enforce a breeding ban once the animal is in another country but thats the way the law is set up. That would be a likely deterrent for US zoos and aquariums but probably less so for other countries who might not mind if they tick Canada off by ignoring the agreement.
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Oh! I forget about that. The US National Marine Fisheries Service also approved Mystic's import but the permit conditions prohibit Mystic from breeding the whales, using them in public interactive programs, or training them for performances. So, if the NMFS only allows import for the purpose of scientific research, it would be really difficut for the belugas to find new homes in the US.

Other countries might be options but new legal agreements might be needed. Not many places would receive animals with a breeding ban. Finding home for 4 non-breeding dolphins might be easy, but not for that many belugas.
 
domadordeolas said:
US would definitely benefit by taking some belugas, new blood is desperately needed. But there are some problems. First of all, most of the animals are wild caught so getting the import permits will be not easy. In addition, many animals might not be healhty, introducing sick animals in a healthy population might not be a great idea, and getting new aninals that might died with a couple of months would couse bad publicity and criticism. There is also an issue with space, all of the SW, Shedd and georgia are almost overcrowed. Mytic has some space aveilable but I dunno that they´ll be willyng to accept more MLC animals after the death of the three belugas.

Maybe US could accept some healthy individuals, as BlobfishBoy already said, but I can see most of the animals being sent to Asia, specially China.
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Considering the fact that they have invested in more staff and veterinary care, the planning for the moves probably has been 1-2 years already in the making.

Placements would be dependent on who gets along with who , and also if they’re wild caught/founder group or the captive born generation.

In a dream scenario each US facility could take 5 belugas actually.

Plus Clearwater Aquarium is receiving the male Black Sea bottlenoses from Greece, that location just might be ideal for Lida, Echo, Tsu and Marina- to be aunts to the younger dolphins and help bring more of the pod structure that CMA is seeking to implement.
 
domadordeolas said:
Oh! I forget about that. The US National Marine Fisheries Service also approved Mystic's import but the permit conditions prohibit Mystic from breeding the whales, using them in public interactive programs, or training them for performances. So, if the NMFS only allows import for the purpose of scientific research, it would be really difficut for the belugas to find new homes in the US.

Other countries might be options but new legal agreements might be needed. Not many places would receive animals with a breeding ban. Finding home for 4 non-breeding dolphins might be easy, but not for that many belugas.
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Coincidentally the permit for that, which covers Sahara and Jetta, is up for expiry (or extension) this year, I believe.

All in all, it does depend on how willing Canada is willing to overlook the S-203 bill restrictions, in light of the upcoming transfers & phaseout.
 
BlobfishBoy said:
The animals are still at the park. There is no word on where the marine mammals will go but they will presumably go to Asia. There have been no permits filed for any of these animals to enter the US (except possibly Sahara and Jetta, two female beluga whales, based on this thread).
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An extension of the permit for these two Mystic whales is routine and arbitrary. In theory they could revisit the breeding ban as part of a new permit but would seem entirely unlikely they'd be exported back to Canada. At the time, I would have presumed those five to be the last import of belugas given the breeding restrictions, the three subsequent casualties, and NOAAs inquiry after the deaths. But these are different times now, so it could be entirely possible permits are filed to import or, given the absolute upheaval occuring at NOAA, a permit is submitted but simply not acted on by the Agency.

As for any Asia import - Canada would have to issue an export permit. Given their cetacean welfare law that was enacted, I believe there are considerations they'd have to make on suitable locations before granting a permit for that too. The burden would be on the receiving facility to prove it meets Canadian animal welfare standards which is probably a difficult task for many marine parks in China at least.

Of course there are sanctuaries that in theory could take them - Iceland and Nova Scotia, but the former continues to have difficulties and the latter isn't operational yet.

They really are kinda stuck in this limbo unfortunately.
 
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