The embattled Marineland, a Niagara Falls theme park, made news again this month. As we discussed in our previous episode on the matter, Marineland is nearing the end of its existence. Brought down by animal welfare scandals and changing perceptions of animal attraction parks.
Currently, the park is closed, no longer generating revenue, and, according to its remaining shareholders, it is unable to pay its bills. But it’s one valuable asset remains, it’s real estate. The only problem is that real estate could be worth billions if it were not for the animals remaining on the property.
Marineland sought to fix that by transferring thirty beluga whales to China, where they would live out the remainder of their lives. However, the federal Liberal government decided otherwise. The Minister in charge of that decision denied Marineland’s request.
In response, Marineland cited that the deaths of said belugas would be on the Mark Carney government’s hands. St. Catharine’s MP, Chris Bittle, though, took issue with that statement and issued his own response. Citing Marineland as a stain on Niagara Falls, and putting the welfare of the animals back on the park’s ownership.
As a follow-up to our previous episode on the matter, Joel reached out to Chris Bittle to invite him on to discuss the government’s reasoning in denying the request, and his views on the state of Marineland as it stands currently. Furthermore, we explore what options are available to ensure the welfare of the remaining wildlife at the park.
Our previous episode on Marineland is here:
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Nicholas Paul: sound editing.
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