Marineland is threatening to euthanize 30 belugas. Can it do that?

The fate of 80 beluga whales has hung in the balance for a few weeks now, starting when Marineland applied for a permit to ship 30 belugas to a theme park in China. That request was turned down by the minister of fisheries, who said it was not in the best interest of the whales. Last week, Marineland upped the ante, threatening mass euthanasia if the government doesn’t provide financial support by the end of day on October 7.

Can it do that? Why the rush? And is there even a veterinarian in the country who would take on this devastating task? Camille Labchuk, a former criminal defence lawyer who now works full time in animal rights law for the activist group Animal Justice, answers our burning questions ahead of Marineland’s deadline.

The powers that be at Marineland have said that, if the feds don’t provide financial support, they may be forced to euthanize 30 belugas. From a legal perspective, can they do that? Oh boy. I think a lot of people would be surprised to learn that, in Canada, the owner of an animal can kill that animal for any reason that they like at any time that they like. Animals are treated as personal property, with not many more rights than a table or a chair. So if a dog owner decides to move and bringing the dog is not convenient, they can ask a vet to euthanize the dog—and that does happen. The whales are considered the property of Marineland. There are protections so that Marineland can’t cause them suffering and can’t euthanize them in such a way that it causes unnecessary suffering or distress, but to the fundamental question of whether they have the right to do this, unfortunately they likely do.

You say likely. Is there a loophole that may apply? One thing that has come up in a lot of the conversations I’ve had with animal behavioural experts is that it’s damn hard to kill animals that don’t want to die, especially if you’re dealing with 30 large creatures like belugas. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the photos, but they’re being kept in two pools right now: there is the larger tank and then separate hospital tanks on the side that are smaller. I believe they would bring them into a side tank to administer an injection, and I don’t think it would be possible to do that in a way where the rest of the belugas didn’t know what was going on. We are talking about extremely social, emotionally intelligent, strongly bonded animals, and this particular group has known one another for their entire lives. I think you can argue that making them witness the deaths of their family and friends would be psychologically distressing in such a way that it would violate animal cruelty laws, which are in the Criminal Code and in provincial laws.

Given how long the whales have been in captivity, does Marineland’s insistence that the government pony up by end of day Tuesday “or else” feel aggressive? In my opinion, Marineland is holding a figurative gun to the heads of these belugas and attempting to extort taxpayers to pay for its problem. It has been six years since the federal government passed laws banning whale and dolphin captivity and banning Marineland from breeding the belugas and dolphins that it still had. The government has also said that you can export an animal to another aquarium only if it’s in the animal’s best interests. Marineland has known, or it should have known, that this day was going to come, that it would be closing and would have to find new homes for the whales. And what did it do in that time? What it did not do is put aside a cash reserve to pay for the whales. It hasn’t found other appropriate homes where the whales wouldn’t be bred and wouldn’t be forced to perform, and it has refused to engage with groups promoting a whale sanctuary like the one being developed in Nova Scotia. I think it’s reasonable to suggest that the company has engineered this crisis in an attempt to get cash from the federal government.

So you don’t buy the claim that Marineland needs financial assistance to give the whales proper care? That’s a little rich given that the park is sitting on hundreds of million dollars worth of property. The company went before the City of Niagara Falls back in February and got permission from a committee there to subdivide its land into two parcels. It said the reason it needed to do this is because it was getting a loan to pay for the removal and care of the whales, but it never got that loan. This is an extremely wealthy corporation that has access to financial instruments to get liquidity if it needs to.

The federal minister of fisheries denied Marineland’s funding request yesterday. She called it inappropriate. Do you agree? I saw the minister’s comments on CPAC. Based on what I have read, I think she is rightfully dismayed by Marineland’s attempt to turn her into the bad guy by saying that it’s because the ministry didn’t grant the export permits to send the whales to China that they have ended up in this position. The law is very clear: the whales can be exported under the Fisheries Act only if the export is in the best interests of each individual whale. When you look at the possibility of sending whales halfway across the world—an extremely stressful transport process—to an aquarium in China, a country with no animal welfare laws, where they would be bred and forced to perform, I don’t think Marineland ever really believed it would get those permits.

So what happens next? We’re halfway through deadline day. In the short term, Ontario has some really clear authority and power under the provincial Animal Welfare Services Act to step in immediately and start providing care for the whales. The province could seize them if it wanted to, but it wouldn’t even have to do that—the whales could stay at Marineland and receive care from the province. And the best part would be that the province could send Marineland a bill for the entirety of the care as well as for future care if it does seize the animals. That would become a debt to the Crown, so when Marineland is sold, the province could recover its money.

Doug Ford has tsk-tsked the feds for not allowing the whales to go to China. Do we think he’s going to intervene? I’m still optimistic that he will. The premier has expressed disappointment in the federal government’s decision not to send the whales to China, but he has also condemned the conditions at Marineland and expressed his desire to see the belugas protected. I’m optimistic that he will appreciate the gravity of this moment. The province could step in with no financial consequences to the taxpayer and be a hero for these belugas.

The premier certainly appreciates a good hero moment. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see Doug Ford showing up at Marineland in a cape?

Is there even a medical professional in Ontario who would be both willing and qualified to euthanize 30 belugas? I have heard rumours that Marineland has been calling around to vets. I am skeptical that they will be able to find someone to do this, especially in short order. Veterinarians are trained to give euthanasia procedures for compassionate reasons. I don’t think anyone went to vet school so they could kill a bunch of whales. I would be surprised if a vet agreed to do that, and I would certainly be appalled. But the other thing is that I’m still not sure whether this is a serious threat. After all, Marineland also threatened to euthanize whales when the bill was about to pass in 2019: after the bill passed, the threat was dropped.

You mentioned that Marineland had refused to engage in conversations relating to animal sanctuaries. Given that no such facility exists at the moment, is that a realistic option? In the short term, no. But there is a lot to be done at Marineland before any relocation solutions could be considered, including individual health assessments for each animal. It is the hope that the currently proposed sanctuary off the coast of Port Hilford, Nova Scotia, could be up and running by summer if they get final approvals. This is a facility that has already received a lot of fundraising support through private donations. So while there would likely be some government investment required, it could be a manageable expense. This problem is not going away, and it’s a problem that’s occurring all over the world as we turn our backs on captivity. This is a chance for Canada to be a global leader. Wouldn’t that be cool?

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.