Animal Activists Will Protest In Front Of Marineland Park In Niagara, Ontario Again

By Doug Draper

They flock to Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario every spring and summer.

There are the hordes of tourists and locals, including school and business groups, that come to this world-famous amusement park for what those Marineland commercials call “a whale of a time.” And there are those who come to hold placards on the busy road outside the park, bearing words like “Not Everyone Loves Marineland,” “Captivity Means Slavery” and “Whales Belong In The Ocean.”

Those bearing the signs more often receive homes of support from passersby than the odd driver who gives them the finger or throws an empty pop can at them. Yet the crowds keep in flooding this five-decade old them park that continues to make whales and other marine mammals, splashing in pools, one of its major attractions.
This Saturday, May 14, the two disparate groups – Marineland visitors and those protesting the captivity of whales dolphins and other animals, including elk, deer and bears inside – will collide again as a group from the U.S. side of the border called ‘Animal Allies of Western New York’ hosts a protest in front of the park.

“None of these animals belong incarcerated,” says Catherine Ens, a senior member of Niagara Action for Animals (NAFA), an Ontario group supporting the protest. “The aquatic animals at Marineland have no where near enough space to sustain a healthy mental state, and a happy life.”

Ens and others, including the Toronto-based Zoochek, have charged that the marine mammals at Marineland die prematurely due to their conditions. Ultimately, they say, these mammals should be left in their natural habitat in the sea. John Holer, the founder and owner of Marineland, has often countered that these animals are treated well at his facility and people would not be filling the park to see them if they weren’t.

The two sides will clash again this May 14.

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