What killed 18 Marineland of Niagara Falls & Mystic Aquarium belugas?

Whales in captivity have always had high death rates,  but this is the worst for belugas ever

NIAGARA FALLS,  Ontario;  MYSTIC,  Connecticut––The December 13,  2023 death of a nine-and-a-half-year-old female beluga whale named Kharabali at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut would be just bad news,  except Kharabali was the third beluga to die among a group of five sold to the Mystic Aquarium in May 2021 by Marineland of Niagara Falls.

Kharabali died after 11 days of intensive care by Mystic Aquarium staff.  She fell severely ill of an unknown cause in November 2023.

Kharabali’s death came coincidental with the reported death of another beluga at Marineland of Niagara Falls,  who was apparently formerly housed with Kharabali,  the other two belugas who died recently at the Mystic Aquarium,  and 14 belugas who have died in the past four years at Marineland of Niagara Falls.

Stonewalling at the concrete tanks

What,  beyond proximity,  links the 18 beluga deaths?

From the limited information released so far by the aquariums and government agencies involved,  one might just as well say cooties.

Like Old Man River,  the officials must know something,  but they don’t say nothing,  and the whales just keep rolling belly up.

“The ministry is aware of the death of a beluga whale and a sea lion at Marineland [of Niagara Falls],”  Ontario ministry of the solicitor general Brent Ross emailed to Canadian Press.

If that sounds like a strange way for a marine mammal death to come to light at a facility that attracts as many as a half million human visitors per year,  albeit closed for the season and supposedly up for sale,  it is.

Unprecedented death rate

Usually marine mammal parks prefer to announce their own animal losses,  albeit often grudgingly.

“Since January 2020,”  Ross continued,  according to Canadian Press,  “Marineland [of Niagara Falls] has made the ministry [of the solicitor general] aware of the deaths of 14 beluga whales,  one orca,  one bottlenose dolphin,  one harbor seal,  one grey seal and two California sea lions.”

If that sounds like an unusually high death rate,  it certainly is––in fact,  a death rate unprecedented in either Canada or the U.S. since the first legislation protecting marine mammals in captivity came into effect nearly 50 years ago.

Drone discovered sick beluga

Canadian Press came to be investigating recent marine mammal deaths at Marineland of Niagara Falls after former Marineland trainer Phil Demers, 44,  co-founder of the organization UrgentSeas and a vehement critic of Marineland since 2010,  droned the Marineland beluga tanks,  finding one of the then-38 resident belugas “floating listlessly.”

The beluga “didn’t look healthy,” Demers told Canadian Press.  “It reminded me of the belugas I’ve seen in bad shape right before they died during my time at Marineland,”  from 2000 to 2010.

The recent run of deaths at Marineland of Niagara Falls began with a beluga named Ikora,  who succumbed on October 24, 2019.  Eleven others followed,  including a beluga named Bull who died on November 23, 2021.

A lull followed those deaths,  but then Kiska,  47,  the lone orca kept at Marineland of Niagara Falls,  died in March 2023.

Captured off the coast of Iceland in 1979,  Kiska spent nearly 44 years in captivity,  the last 10 of those years alone.  Earlier Kiska birthed five calves,  none of whom survived long.

Mystic Aquarium deaths

The previous deaths among the Marineland of Niagara Falls belugas sold to the Mystic Aquarium came in August 2021 and February 2022.

“Based on a review of necropsy reports,  health records, and inspection documents,”  Animal Welfare Institute media contact Marjorie Fishman told ANIMALS 24-7 after the second beluga died,  “this organization suspects that none of the whales were actually healthy in the weeks and possibly days prior to the transport.

“During the preparations for moving the five belugas from Niagara Falls to Mystic,”  Fishman charged,  the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service “allowed Mystic to substitute three other Marineland belugas for three belugas who were deemed too ill for transport.  At the time,  Mystic Aquarium committed in writing to import only healthy animals.

Havoc & Havana

“Within three months of the transport,”  Fishman continued,  “Havok,  one of the substituted whales,  died,  apparently from a ‘preexisting condition’ related to gastric abnormalities.  Records show that the 6-year-old whale’s transport was postponed several times to ensure that his gastric ulcers had healed while he was still at Marineland.  At the time of transport,  Havok was declared “stable,” with the health certificate—dated seven days before the move—indicating a limited number of normal health parameters.”

A USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service review of Havok’s medical records and behavioral notes,  conducted in September 2021 but only released in February 2022,  “found three ‘critical’ violations related to Havok’s care,  two of which resulted in Havok injuring himself,”  Fishman said.

Havana,  Fishman said,  “died after being in ‘intensive care over several months for multiple health issues,’  according to Mystic.

Captive breeding under the table

“Similar to Havok,”  Fishman added,  “Havana experienced health challenges before transport.  According to Canadian documents obtained by the Animal Welfare Institute from nonprofit organizations in Canada,  she was being treated for a bacterial and/or fungal infection. While subsequent blood tests showed that her situation had improved,  it is unclear whether these issues were completely resolved before transport.”

The Mystic Aquarium has been trying since at least 2011 to develop a successful captive breeding program for beluga whales.

The purchase of the five belugas from Marineland of Niagara Falls,  however,  was not framed as part of the captive breeding program.  If it had been,  the deal would have broken Canadian law S-203,  in effect since 2020,  which prohibits either capturing or breeding whales for exhibition.

(See Marineland of Canada & Mystic Aquarium in hot water over beluga deaths.)

Grew from sea lion pen

Marineland of Niagara Falls “opened in 1961 when founder John Holer,”  a 26-year-old immigrant from Slovenia,  “started shows with a few sea lions in a small pool,”  recounted Liam Casey of Canadian Press.

The facility rapidly grew from a single acre into 1,000 acres,  becoming one of the largest zoos in Canada,  and the largest aquarium.

John Holer died at age 83 in 2018,  leaving Marineland of Niagara Falls under the management of his wife of 46 years,  Marie Holer,  now 84,  who has told media that she wants to sell it,  but only to someone who will keep it operating.

Ontario Provincial Animal Welfare Services,  as of December 15,  2023,   “has been investigating Marineland since it took over animal cruelty enforcement in January 2020,”  according to Casey of Canadian Press.

During this time Ontario Provincial Animal Welfare Services inspectors “have been to the park at least 160 times,”  Casey learned through freedom of information act requests.

“Shrouded in mystery”

However,  Casey added,  “The province’s four-year-long investigation of Marineland remains shrouded in mystery,  with officials refusing to disclose details of its probe,  what it is doing at the park,  and how the animals died.”

This seems to be typical of Ontario Provincial Animal Welfare Services,  PAWS for short,  according to a November 28,  2023 report from Bobby Hristova of CBC News.

“Advocates have voiced frustration about PAWS since it was created in 2019,  taking over for the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,”  Hristova began.

The Ontario SPCA had essentially refused to enforce Ontario humane law,  including prosecuting dogfighting and cockfighting cases,  the 2006 provincial ban on possession of pit bulls,  and cases of mass neglect of farmed animals and horses,  to avoid having to euthanize animals.

(See Rather than kill pit bulls, Ontario SPCA quits busting dogfights.)

Doing less with more

While the Ontario SPCA committed brazen dereliction of contracted duties,  Ontario Provincial Animal Welfare Services does not appear to be doing much more,  Hristova found.

“In animal abuse cases,”  Hristova explained,  “enforcement tools at their disposal include orders,  provincial charges,  or criminal charges.

“But according to data obtained by CBC Hamilton through a freedom of information request,  PAWS investigations are leading to far fewer orders and charges compared to when the OSPCA oversaw animal welfare.

“From 2015 to the end of 2018, the OSPCA conducted 64,015 investigations,  issued 16,148 orders,  and laid 1,946 provincial and criminal charges,  according to its annual reports.

“From 2020 to June 30,  2023,  PAWS conducted at least 69,118 investigations,  issued 6,970 orders,  and laid 667 provincial and criminal charges.”

The 57% decline in orders issued and 66% decline in prosecutions was despite PAWS working with “an annual budget of roughly $21 million,  far more than the $5.75 million budget the Ontario SPCA worked with,”  Hristova reported.

“Concerns about water quality”

Liam Casey of Canadian Press in August 2023 did manage to obtain some information about the earlier beluga deaths at Marineland of Niagara Falls through freedom of information requests made to the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General.

“Provincial authorities raised concerns about the park’s water quality and declared all of the marine mammals were under distress,”  Casey summarized.

“The province told the park in May 2021 to fix its water,  an order Marineland appealed,  saying its animals were not in distress.

“The Ministry of the Solicitor General, when asked why 15 marine mammals have died at Marineland since 2019 and what the province has done to assist the animals there,  cited the province’s ongoing investigation and said ‘questions regarding the cause of death of the marine mammals at Marineland should be directed to Marineland.’”

Visitors formerly fed belugas

Marineland meanwhile banned Casey from visiting,  after Casey and a Canadian Press photographer “paid $52.95 each, plus tax,  to enter Marineland on a wet Friday in June 2023.

“During the visit,”  Casey wrote,  “Canadian Press observed that the belugas can no longer be fed by the public,  and the dolphin and sea lion shows have been shortened.

“Nine male belugas swim in Friendship Cove,  while 28 female belugas live in Arctic Cove,”  before the most recent death.

“Four years ago,”  Casey said,  “there were 54 belugas at the park,  the most in captivity in the world,  according to an affidavit filed by Marineland president Marie Holer with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,”  as part of the U.S. import process when Marineland sold the five belugas to the Mystic Aquarium.

Keiko escaped alive

Known for importing or breeding wildlife,  and then reselling the animals to other exhibition facilities,  Marineland of Niagara Falls from 1979 to 1981 housed the orca Keiko,  star of the Free Willy! film trilogy and then focus of a $20 million rehabilitation-for-release effort.

Finally released in mid-2002,  Keiko died eighteen months later in a Norway fjord.

Friends of the Dolphin founder Cara Sands appears to have been first to draw activist attention to Marineland of Niagara Falls, issuing critical reports about the facility after visits in May 1989 and January 1990.

In November 1991 Sands arranged a group visit to Marineland of Canada by former trainer Dan Long,  who worked there nine years earlier;  Ric O’Barry,  the former Miami Seaquarium trainer who has campaigned against marine mammal captivity since 1970;  and Stephen McCulloch,  who for more than 20 years directed the marine mammal program at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce, Florida.  All three were highly critical of what they saw.

Lineup of critics

Unable to raise enough money to sustain Friends of the Dolphin,  Sands dissolved the group in 1998. By then,  however,  Marineland of of Niagara Falls had many other critics,  including renowned British Columbia whale researcher Paul Spong,  Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi,  who was arrested in 1996 at a protest outside Marineland of Niagara Falls,  and former Humane Society of the U.S. marine mammologist Naomi Rose,  who directed the final phase of the Keiko release program.

Zoocheck Canada and the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies in August 1996 sent a 16-page brief to the Canadian Department of Fisheries & Oceans,  the U.S. Department of Commerce,  and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service,  arguing that Marineland of Canada should not be allowed to acquire any dolphins or whales from the U.S. because the facilities do not meet U.S. size standards.

Marineland of Canada had,  however,  begun construction of a new orca tank.

Zoocheck Canada in May 1998 produced a more extensive critique entitled Distorted Nature: Exposing the Myth of Marineland,  based on testimony from 13 zoological conservation experts,  and in 2002 followed up with a paper entitled Commentary on the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) accreditation process: Marineland of Canada,  Niagara Falls.

Please help our work:

www.animals24-7.org/donate