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Last week, the Niagara Falls Committee of Adjustments approved a request from Marineland to split up its property\u2014despite lack of clarity about what this means for the dozens of marine animals still held captive at the facility.<\/p>\n
Marineland was granted a temporary land severance, which would allow the park to divide its property into multiple smaller lots. Marineland claimed this was needed to secure short-term financing to provide immediate cash flow, with the intention of moving the animals. Marineland is up for sale, with many speculating that the land will be sold for real estate development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since 2019, 18 beluga whales have died at Marineland, along with solitary orca Kiska, plus one dolphin, and numerous seals and sea lions. While the park claims the loan will help fund the relocation of the surviving animals, there is still no information about where Marineland wants to send them. Marineland has ignored requests to send the whales to a sanctuary, and the animals are at risk of being sent to another subpar aquarium, or being transported while in poor health. It\u2019s also not clear how Marineland will transfer the whales and dolphins, since it\u2019s illegal under federal law<\/a> to export whales and dolphins under most circumstances<\/p>\n If Marineland can\u2019t pay back its loan, the lender could take large parts of its land. Yet there\u2019s no guarantee that animals would be protected if the park fails to repay the loan. Instead, they could be left without proper care or a relocation plan.<\/p>\n