If former Marineland trainer Phil Demers is to be believed, the (in)famous Niagara Falls based zoo and amusement park will soon cease operations.
Claiming to have inside information, Demers says the park’s current ownership is in talks with developers and closed to the public for good when the 2021 season ended on Oct. 10. For their part, Marineland has neither confirmed nor denied these claims.
Demers, who resigned from Marineland in 2012 after having been employed by the park for 12 years, has been very vocal about the poor water conditions of the animals kept in the park’s captivity.
If this were indeed the last summer of operation for the park, it would be no great loss. Though it was at one time a huge boon to the local Niagara region economy, it came at the cost of untold misery suffered by countless whales, dolphins, walruses, polar bears, sea lions and a whole host of oceanic creatures. In retrospect, the park should have never opened in the first place and it’s a shame it took so long for most people to come to that realization.
The timing of the rumour lends credence to its validity. COVID-19 has been unkind to the entertainment sector, but the pandemic is just the tip of the iceberg that is the much-beleaguered park’s problems. For decades now the park has been featured in several ‘behind the scenes’ exposes, all of which confirms what really should have already been common knowledge: cramped tanks in Southern Ontario are no place for 12,000 pound giants of the sea. Exact counts vary and are hard to pinpoint, but in 2012 the Toronto Star published a report that stated 26 killer whales have been housed at the park over the decades, 16 of which have died in Marineland while another six died in other parks shortly after being transported from Niagara Falls.
Like most Ontarians, this reporter enjoyed a handful of trips to the park as a child, blissfully unaware of just how immoral it was to support the venue. Though it’s been well over 25 years since the last visit, vivid memories include putting a couple of quarters in a vending machine to dispense tiny marshmallows which could then be lobbed into the polar bear exhibit. The bears would then swim out to retrieve the tiny treats. Looking back on it now, those snacks undoubtedly did nothing but harm to the bears-they’re not exactly the type of food a polar bear would encounter on the frozen tundra.
On the one hand, Marineland’s live show remains to date the only time this reporter has seen an orca up close and in person. And that’s probably true for a lot of Ontarians who haven’t been fortunate enough to have a wildlife encounter in British Columbia or on the East Coast (though it’s on the bucket list). The park’s closure would mean a great many others would be denied watching these creatures breach the water’s surface-but it’s for the best. These animals deserve so much more than Marineland could ever offer. Here’s hoping their suffering for our enjoyment and other’s profit is finally coming to an end.
-Adam Prudhomme