Canadian amusement park threatens to euthanise 30 beluga whales

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jmddp1v49o

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/50739392

A Canadian amusement park is threatening to euthanise 30 beluga whales after the government blocked its request to send them to China.

The park is said to have told ministers that it was in a "critical financial state" and unable to provide adequate care for the whales

81 points · 19 comments · view on lemmy.world

19 Comments

snoons@lemmy.ca · 31 pts · 349d (6 replies)

It reportedly said this was "a direct consequence of the minister's decision".

Well sure, but who the hell thought it was a good idea to have 30 captive whales is the first place?

Maybe 3 or 4, if they are permanently injured and can't live without human assistance.

aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 14 pts · 349d (5 replies)
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SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 349d

This isn't a zoo, it's a shitty theme park.

Criticisms of Marineland date back several years, and in 2020 Animal Welfare Services opened an investigation into the park. It found that 12 whales at the park had died over a two year period and declared all the park's marine life to be under distress. Some 20 whales have died at the marine park since 2019 - five of them in 2024 - according to news agency the Canadian Press.

oxysis@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 7 pts · 349d

You can make zoos that are ethical, it just that most are highly unethical. I was at a zoo earlier this year that only kept a few types of animals but they were given a lot of space to roam about and that properly mimicked their natural habitat. They had space to go to if they wanted to be away from people.

Ethical care and treatment should be the standard but our world is designed to extract the maximum profit possible while minimizing everything else.

ieGod@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 348d (1 reply)

This mischaracterization of zoos needs to stop. They do important conservation, preservation, and public outreach work.

aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 0 pts · 348d
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communist@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz · 3 pts · 348d

Zoos are necessary and should only contain animals that do not show signs of stress when in captivity, the fact is people don't protect what they don't love and they don't love what they don't know. This is one of the only ways to get people engaged with conservation.

this one sucks though.

20cello@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 349d (8 replies)

Why don't they just free them

Archangel1313@lemmy.ca · 19 pts · 349d (3 replies)

They wouldn't survive. They'd have no idea how to hunt for food, which means they'd just die of starvation.

20cello@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 349d (2 replies)

☹️

snoons@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 349d (1 reply)

Which is exactly why captive whales is a shit idea. Better use of that facility would be a marine life haspital... bet they're pretty far from the ocean so...

HikingVet@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 123d

It’s about ~500km min straight line distance.

Rinzler@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 349d (2 replies)

Often animals in captivity become unfit to survive on their own if released into the wild. This may be one of those cases. If it is then you would effectively be euthanizing 40 animals.

20cello@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 349d (1 reply)

I've read there are cases of beluga whales previously held in captivity which have been set free but first they need to be transferred to a sanctuary where they get used to their natural environment and also learn to hunt.

otter@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 349d

There's also been some recent discussion about possibly moving them to a whale sanctuary

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/marineland-says-its-belugas-shouldn-t-go-to-nova-scotia-s-whale-sanctuary-project-9.6931272

I'd be curious if some independent entity can weigh in on if this facility would be adequate.

phx@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 349d

Last time they tried somebody tried to harpoon one and was only able to be stopped by a giant invisible space-ship that then beamed them aboard.

IndridCold@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 348d

As much as I hate to say it, this might be the best thing for them.

isVeryLoud@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 348d

Not so amusing now, is it?

InEnduringGrowStrong@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 349d

White elephant vibes.

Dustwin@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 349d

They should be fed to polar bears being held captive in Canadian zoos, let them eat what they'd normally eat

MissKiwi@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 349d (1 reply)
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Archangel1313@lemmy.ca · 16 pts · 349d

They'll most likely end up slowly starving to death...or quite possibly die from something even worse. It would be very much like if a human was dropped off in the middle of the wilderness, and left to fend for themselves. They'd maybe last a week.