Beluga whales swim in a tank at Marineland amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ont., in 2023.Chris Young/The Canadian Press

With hindsight, and a lot of good reporting, the public can now see Marineland for what it was: a hideous exercise in alleged animal cruelty and exploitation.

For more than 60 years, visitors would come to the tourist attraction in Niagara Falls, Ont., to watch aquatic mammals, plucked from their natural environment or bred in captivity, give high fives to their trainers and splash the audience on demand. According to various reports, water conditions in some of the tanks at the park were so bad that dolphins’ skin would fall off in chunks and sea lions were going blind. Kiska, Marineland’s last surviving orca, spent the last 10 years of her life totally alone in her tank, where she exhibited disturbing repetitive behaviours and was allegedly left bleeding for months (which Marineland denied). In 2024, the park was found guilty of animal cruelty charges for keeping three young black bears in cramped enclosures and was ordered to pay fines totalling $85,000.

And though Marineland is now closed to the public, dozens of........

© The Globe and Mail