The Sea

Marineland: Canada’s Seaworld

Both parks mistreat animals anyways.

A lot of people have heard of Seaworld, a lot less people have heard of Marineland. If you’ve been near Niagara Falls from the 60’s to the 2010’s, you’ve probably at least seen some advertisements for Marineland. For those who do not know, Marineland is a zoo and theme park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It was opened 1961 by John Holer. It is now privately owned and operated by his family, after his death in 2018. The park mainly contains marine animals, hence the name, however there are also exhibits for deer, bears, and a few other kinds of animals.

An image of the Sky Screamer from Marineland. Source: Marineland website

There are few functioning and well-kept rides at Marineland. The Sky Screamer being the main attraction. It is the highest triple tower ride in the world, standing at an incredible 137.2 meters, or 450 feet. It supposedly gives a “Spectacular view of the Falls and surrounding Niagara landscape” as claimed by the Marineland website. Another of their rides is the Dragon Mountain roller coaster. Dragon Mountain covers 30 acres of land, and claims to have the title of world’s largest steel roller coaster. However, this was never true, as larger coasters had existed long before. There were various plans for this ride that never ended up being built. Around the helix was meant to be a volcano, however it lays unfinished, and instead just looks like a wall. From videos of the ride, you can also see just how rickety the ride is. The ride goes under a few tunnels, and there are also a few sections where never-built waterfalls were meant to go.

That is about as interesting as the rides get. All the rest are rides for families, where it just spins you around for a bit. You would think the animals is where it starts to get interesting, and it does, but not for good reasons. By the time of 2017, Maineland garnered 11 counts of animal cruelty by the Ontario SPCA (or OSPCA). One such case would be the 35 black bears that Marineland failed to provide appropriate food and water.

Not only are the conditions for the land animals bad, but they are for the marine animals too. The most famous example of the mistreatment in Marineland would be Kiska the killer whale. Kiska was captured in Icelandic waters in 1979 alongside Keiko, the whale from Free Willy. They lived together in Maineland in the 80s, until Keiko got sold to an aquarium in Mexico in 1985. For a while, Kiska was a very lonely whale, until the 2000s, when Marineland looked to Seaworld to help provide a mate for her.

Two whales were flown to Canada to live with Kisaka, Ikaika the male whale, and Nootka, the female. Ikaika begun to develop behavioral and health issues that are common for killer whales in captivity. Seaworld requested his return in 2009, and while Marineland disagreed, the dispute went to court, and Seaworld won in 2011. During this time Nootka had died, and thus Kiska was officially dubbed the “loneliest whale in the world.”

Kiska had also given birth to five calves, all dying at young ages. Before her death, Kiska would be seen exhibiting behavior that results from boredom, lack of stimulation, and stress. She was seen swimming around her tank – which was far to small for a killer whale – and banging her head on the tank walls. In 2019, Canada banned the capture and breeding of whales, dolphins, and porpoises, however those already in captivity were unaffected. A video of her banging her head in 2021 caused some public outcry, and cries for her release. Kiska was sadly unable to be rescued from Marineland, and she has sadly passed away, dying March 2023.

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